Destiny of a Shinobi
by Zephyrical
Summary: AU, What if Naruto saw the means for a better life on his own, and took it? NarutoTenten. No Yaoi.
1. The Escape

**Destiny of a Shinobi**

By: Lord Myst

Chapter 1

The Escape

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; I only own any original characters

Summary: AU, Kyuubi contacts Naruto when he is still young, but what if Naruto saw the means for a better life on his own, and took it? Naruto/Kin No Yaoi.

Normal Text

'_Thoughts'_

**Demon Text**

'**_Demon Thoughts' _  
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**A/N: **Welcome to my second fic. It should be interesting for you all and I have some cool plot-twists up my sleeve and hopefully an improved writing style. This time around, it will be much more planned out, but probably slower updates due to making the chapters as bets as I can do. I hope you enjoy the fic. The pairings in this fic, are quite honestly, up in the air. It will be Het though, no matter what someone may say. Now, on with the story!

* * *

Today was a sunny day in Konoha. The birds were singing and the clouds were just right, milky white with a bit of fluff to them. Well, Shikamaru would claim that the clouds are not plentiful enough to cloud gaze, he found this troublesome. Civilians were out doing errands, gathering the dinner for the day and picking up their children from the day care conveniently located in the market district. 

Ninja were out doing missions, or if an unlucky Genin named Iruka, doing boring D ranked missions that involved catching cats, gardening and other meaningless tasks. A certain Chuunin named Kurenai had just completed her first B ranked mission with utmost success. She was currently celebrating at the local dance club.

It was late in the afternoon or early evening as some would say. Others would say it's around dinner time, and one small boy is complementing on what happened today and what he should do. This boy was at the average height for his age, as he was 6 years old as of today. The date is October 10th, and it is this little boy's birthday. His blonde hair glistening in the sun, and his big blue eyes, showing happiness and giddiness are his main features. His whisker marks, a rather unique trait, is something he is easily identified by. The orange jumpsuit he was wearing although it left much to be desired for.

Naruto, as the boy was called, was thinking to himself '_what should I do with this cool and yet useful information?' 'Its so terrifying I can't even begin to imagine.' _His thoughts shuddered at when he recalled what happened earlier today.

---Flashback—

_Naruto was walking along the crowded streets of Konoha. Today was his birthday and he knew it. He was out to celebrate, maybe get himself a nice toy. He also knew that today was the day that the Kyuubi was killed. For some reason, the citizens seemed to hate him a lot. He did not know why, but he knew that he would never submit to their hate. Showing emotions is a weakness that he learned to control and keep under tight raps._

_Naruto spent time browsing shops, going unnoticed thanks to the scarf he decided to wear today. Luckily, today was a chilly day and required somewhat warmer cloths like a scarf. The scarf hid his whisker marks, which the leaf-nins used to identify Naruto. It was around lunch time and Naruto was eating some rice balls. 'Food tastes great, I love food, and it's the best' he was thinking to himself._

_He looked back at his worn watch on his wrist and noticed the time was fifteen minutes past one. He decided to head out and get some new clothes. Luckily the Hokage had given him tons of money for him to spend for his birthday. He headed out to a store that was called **Shinobi Style.** He walked inside the shop and went up the nearest salesman._

"_Sir," Naruto asked the man at the counter with a grin on his face. The unknown man looked at him. "I would like some clothes mister. I need them. My mommy gave me this money to use. I plan on being the best ninja ever!"_

_The salesmen eyed him for a moment, as if trying to figure out of this was genuine or not. He nodded and told Naruto, "My, that is a nice goal to work for young man." "Alright young sir, I will take you to the children's section. Right this way please." Naruto followed the man through isles and isles of clothes. He noticed all the colors and styles such as, fish-nets, cargos, mesh, and cotton as well as leather jackets were available. He noticed an entire wall dedicated to the standard Chuunin and Jounin vests. Most of the colors he saw were black. He decided that he would get mostly black clothes with some blues and reds._

_They stopped at a sign titled **Children's Section. **"Young sir," began the salesmen. "This is the Children's Section," stated the salesmen. 'Well duh, it says that you baka-salesman, I can read you know.' thought Naruto to himself, as if it were the obvious. "Please select the clothing you would like to buy and bring them to me. I will then tell you the price, if you can afford it of course."_

_Naruto got a tad excited at this and went diving in the racks and isles of clothing. He literally swam around them like some little fish in the big blue pond. After doing that for around five minutes because of the annoyed look on the salesman, he decided to get to the picking of his clothing. He walked over to the racks and began to pluck cloths from them. He picked out three pairs of blue cargo pants, a black vest that was like the Chuunin ones and he also picked out picked out various undershirts in greens, blacks, blues and reds. 'One can never have enough colors, as long as they are dark.' _

_Naruto then noticed a small section with masks in them. 'With my whisker marks, I could definitely use one of those.' Naruto ran over to the masks, with his clothes being dragged across the ground. He picked out five black masks, just incase they got ripped or something. _

_Naruto waddled over to the salesmen and said, "Here's my choices sir, it was not very hard to pick them out in that fun pile of clothing!" The salesmen eyed the clothing for a second as if he was judging Naruto right this minute. "Alright then, this will cost you exactly 600 ryu. Because of your purchase, we will throw in two free black wrist guards." Said the salesmen, in a ridiculously over used business voice. "Yatta! I get free stuff, free stuff is always awesome!" The entire shop heard that particular statement._

_Naruto took his clothing and headed out back into the Market District. He walked along the well beaten path until he arrived at his house, Apartment 2C, which was located on the second floor in the Poverty District. The said apartment building looked run down and in need of much repairs. Boards were used to cover up holes and graffiti was everywhere along the walls and fences. Guard dogs are a common thing to have in this ghetto like area. Luckily for Naruto, he was the only tenant in his humble abode. _

_He pulled out his key from his pocket and unlocked the door. Walking inside, he set his new clothes on the floor and went to his closest. The horror inside was the abnormal amount of orange jumpsuits. He immediately took all the orange jumpsuits, took them to his furnace and proceeded to throw them in there. 'Kami-sama, I hated those things. Why in the world did I even get them? They will do a better job providing heat for the next few days.'_

_Naruto put on his new clothing and looked in the mirror. 'Damn I look cool! I can't wait show off to the kids at the play ground. It is going to make me better than Sasuke for sure!' Naruto headed for the door and walked outside. He locked his door and proceeded down the road, unknowing that his life will be changed for ever._

_---_End Flashback---

The boy was swinging on a swing, thinking about what happened next. '_That certainly was the most exciting part of the day. I will never forget this birthday ever in my life. It is certainly the best I have ever had, even if I am only six years old. What happened after that though is something I never would have imagined.'_

_---Flashback—_

_Naruto decided that now was a good time to prepare dinner, as his stomach begged him to do so with obnoxious growling sounds. So he walked out of his house, while looking the door and went down the stairs onto the empty, cruddy dirt road. He headed towards the Market District again looking for a nice restaurant to spoil himself in. He came along a well established place named **Ichiraku Ramen.**__'Ramen sounds like a good idea, even though I have never had the stuff before.' He popped inside and went up to the counter. "Hey old man, I'd like an order of ramen please." "Alright young man, your order is coming up." Naruto sat around for about three minutes. When his ramen was done he began to eat it. 'Mm, this tastes good, but I like Rice balls better, plus I need to eat healthy to be a kick ass shinobi.'_

_After Naruto was done eating he left the building while thanking the old man and his daughter. What he saw outside was a sight that made him snicker at the foolishness of the civilians. They were pissed drunk. The party was getting quite big and out of control now as the entire town was celebrating the defeat of the dreaded demon, Kyuubi. People were also rude and down right mean to, thoroughly drunk from the copious amounts of sake that they have consumed. Naruto walked along the path dodging out of the way of two drunken young men. He assumed that they were in their 20's. One of the drunken fools noticed Naruto and stumbled on over to them._

"_Hey kid," The drunk spoke in a very hoarse, drunken like voice. "You ever heard of a kid named Uzumaki Naruto?" At hearing this Naruto's mind went into overdrive. 'Should I tell him that that is me? Or should I not tell him? Decisions, how I hate to make tough decisions I think I will not to tell him it is me he is talking to, I might learn something cool.' "Yea, I have heard of him. Seems like a brat from what I have heard," Answered Naruto in a quite believing voice._

"_You have? Good. You should avoid that brat for he carries something evil. It is being more evil then Hell and Satan himself." Spat out the drunk, like it was some sort of disease. "Oh? What does he carry old man." "He carries a great demon fox. It was said to be killed young man, but it was a lie." Told the drunk, in what was supposedly the best story telling voice he could come up with. "He carries the Kyuubi! Avoid him, despise him, for that makes him the demon, but do not speak of it, the Hokage forbids it. He loves the child, we the villagers and the ninja hate him. Monsters should not be allowed to be kept alive, they should be put down like the bastards that they are."_

_Naruto widen his eyes at this but recovered as quick as a 6 year old could, which is a tad slow. He put on the most believable scared look he could and answered back at the man with "He really does? That's so scary! Mommy will protect me, yes she will!" The drunk giggled stupidly at this and asked, "She will eh? Is she cute?" That got the drunken punched in the face by a 6 year old, which knocked him out. Said drunk when he woke up swore to never piss off a 6 year old ever again._

'_I have the Kyuubi inside of me. Holy shit. This must be the reason why the villagers hate me. Hate is not a good place for me to grow up in. I need to leave, but how?' Naruto thought to himself for a moment, while walking to the park. The park offers peace and quiet for people to think, including Naruto. He walked up the swing and started to think on what happened today._

---End Flashback---

Naruto lightly pushed the swing to start a small swinging motion. '_What should I do now? I have reviewed everything that has happened of importance today.' _Naruto put his fingers on his chin and rubbed it. This was a famous thinking position that he saw pothers using but he rarely used it himself. '_I wonder if I can contact the infamous Kyuubi inside of me. Is he even awake? I wonder what I could do to meet him.'_

Naruto slowly got off the swing and headed back home. While walking, he thought about what he could do to meet the Kyuubi and he was hit with inspiration. '_The Kyuubi is inside of me, maybe I could meditate and enter my mind sort of speak. I could then maybe find the Kyuubi!' _At this thought Naruto ran home as fast as he could.

Upon arriving at his door, he quickly unlocked his door with an odd afterthought. '_Why do we have locks in a village full of ninja? Kinda dumb thing to have if you ask me. It wouldn't be hard to sneak into someone's' house as a shinobi…baka-shinobis'_ He quickly went into the small living room and sat down on the rug on the old and quite moldy floor. He got into the lotus position and began to meditate in what he assumed was the correct mediation style.

He began to drift into a tranquil state, well he could have been falling asleep he mused, but he hoped it was a tranquil state. Eventually he found himself in a sewer. '_What the hell? A sewer? I do not have a sewer in my house damn it!'_ He mused for a second about this and came to a conclusion._ 'Maybe I reached my mind, I should explore, although I should make my mind more pretty next time, a sewer… geesh.'_

Naruto walked along the sewers, noting the dripping water and ugly interior. He planned to make this better if he could. He sincerely hoped he could, it was in bad need of an extreme makeover. He climbed down some stairs until came upon a giant cage with a piece of paper with the kanji for "seal" attached to it. '_This must be were the Kyuubi is.' _ He approached the gate and yelled out, "Hey furball! Get your furry red ass out here; I need to talk with you!"

"**Who dares disturb my eternal slumber? Speak now you insignificant mortal! I don't have all damn day to talk with flesh bags." **the load voice roared out. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and this flesh bag is going to need your help." Naruto watched as large fox appeared. He had nine tails with big blood red eyes; in fact everything about him was red. _'Damn, this fox really is obsessed with red. He needs to get some blues in him.'_

The Kyuubi looked thoughtful for a moment and replied, "**My jailor eh? So the flesh bag, you need my help? Why in Satan's name should I help a punitive monkey like you?"**

"Because, if I die, you die, and I know you would hate to die. We both know I won't grow strong in this village. I need to leave. If I do not grow strong, than I will surly die on a mission, a pathetically easy one to." Naruto looked thoughtful for a minute. "We can't have that, can we?"

"**Damn it flesh bag, you have a good point, even if I despise being blackmailed by the spawn of a bigger flesh bag," **grumbled out the Kyuubi.** "I guess I should help you in my survival and my survival depends on you." "I will grant you slightly increased eyesight and ears. It will be enough that you can see farther than others and ear about as good as those smelly ass dog people, the Inuzuka's." **The Kyuubi thought for a second, as if he wished what he said was not true. **"It will not cause you any pain unfortunately. I will be training you; I can't have MY flesh bag being killed by other retarded flesh bags. Plus I get to cause as much pain to use as I possible can. This is going to be so much fun, for me to watch that is." **

"Sweet, I am going to be trained by the legendary Kyuubi no Kitsune, already known as the Furball, the fox with no opposable thumbs!" pointed out Naruto in such a childish yet intelligent remark. Kyuubi looked at his paws for a second, realized he was right with only having four fingers. **"Curse you miniature flesh bag! I will not tolerate being insulted. For every insult you do, I will MAKE you run around this pathetic village twice." **Naruto shuddered inside his mind at the thought of this as well as the empathized word, make.

"**Well flesh bag, I decided to call you kit." **Naruto looked up in confusion while asking, "Why should I be called kit? I'm not exactly a fox you know, you like to remain of that with the flesh bag jab." **"Because kit, you are a little one and I protect you, even if it is reluctantly. Thus you are technically my kit. Every other human though is still a flesh bag in my giant book of hates." **Naruto snickered at the thought of anyone trying to read the Kyuubi's giant book of hates.

"**Now that is out of the way, training will start tomorrow, so get your ass out of here and get ready for the big day tomorrow." **Naruto was immediately shoved out of his mind and back into reality.

'_Well that was interesting. I should get some rest, big day tomorrow. I wonder what the Kyuubi has up his sleeve.' _With that thought in mind, Naruto crawled into bed, while setting his alarm for 5 am. He went under the covers and fell asleep, thinking of the idea of getting out of this wretched village.

* * *

Naruto was the Kage of the village he founded, being loved by all with lots of chibi Narutos running around. His wife was just about to kiss him when…. BEEP. 

"Bah, I was having such a good dream to, damn alarm clock. I won't miss that," Naruto grumbled out, while reaching to turn it off. Naruto walked over to his closest and pulled out his outfit. He proceeded to put it on when he realized that he had no idea how the Kyuubi was going to train him. '_Hah, it seems furball won't be able train me after all, what a lying son of a…' **'Baka, I can hear you.' **_Naruto was startled by the sudden appearance of Kyuubi's voice. **_'If you keep thinking that I am a furball, I will make you run laps, remember? It'll be fun, so keep calling me that,' _**growled out the Kyuubi in the most sadistic voice that Naruto had ever heard.

'_Uh… what I meant to say was… I mean…' _stuttered out Naruto in weak voice. **_'I do not want to hear your excuses that one of your monkeys made up.' 'Get your ass out to a training field, particularly one that is far away from the village. Find one that is in a forest,' _**ordered out the Kyuubi in the best drill sergeant voice he could muster, which was in Naruto's opinion, very damn good.

Naruto quickly got finished getting dressed and headed out the door. He locked the door on his way out and jumped over the ledge. Landing on his feet, he sprinted out to the nearest training ground he could think of. Arriving at the training ground, he was glad that no one was there. He sat down on a log and waited for the Kyuubi to tell him what he needs to do.

'**_Good, you are finally here, what took you so long kit?' _**Naruto grumbled at being chastised because he wasn't fast yet.**_ 'Anyways, I assume the flesh bags have taught you all the hand seals already, right?' _**At seeing Naruto's nod, he started speaking again.**_ 'Good, because you are going to practice them until I think your sealing speed is proficient.' _**

'_What! How am I going to get my sealing speed fast? Stand here and go through them all repeatedly?' **'No, you are going to run around Konoha going through them repeatedly.' **_At hearing this, Naruto bugged his eyes out. "_NANI! That is not fun!' **'I am also going to add some weight to your entire body. It is going to feel like everything is double what you currently weigh. So have fun kit and check back when you're done, I've got a surprise for you.'**_

"What the hell? This is not cool. I don't want the extra… umphff…" Naruto suddenly stopped speaking due to the fact that Kyuubi had just added the extra weight. This caused Naruto to drop to the ground as gravity forced him so. "Damn it. Mr. Furball of the Underworld here just couldn't make the weights a bit lighter." Naruto complained for about a minute until he finally was able to get up. "Alrighty than, I better head towards the wall and start running."

Naruto trudged towards the wall, eventually getting used to the weights. He greeted the Chuunin guard, who looked a bit drunk. _'Tsk, idiot Chuunin is gonna get in major trouble today.' _ Naruto began to run while practicing his seals. _'Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Serpent, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Bird, Dog, Boar.' _He repeated this mantra for hours in his head, running as fast as he could around Konoha. On his 10th lap, he started to tire out. On his 12th, he was completely worn out and collapsed on the wall. Panting, Naruto began to stumble down the stairs and back towards the training area. He lazily checked his watch and noticed it was only 7 am.

'_Nani! I thought I had been running way longer than that.' _Little did he know that his alarm on his clock was broken and he actually woke up at 4 a.m. Once Naruto arrived at the training area, he tried to contact the Kyuubi. _'Right, how do I contact furballs? I looked in the phone book, but his number was not listed.' **'Baka-kit, all you need do, is direct a thought at me. I am really going to have to up your IQ while you sleep. That is a bonus you will be getting. When you go to bed tonight I will work on increasing your IQ, so you are at least much smarter then the average flesh bag.' **_Kyuubi said this in an interesting evil like voice.

'_Well, that sounds like a good deal, but what else, I can hear the evil laughter in your voice,' _pointed out Naruto, while making a funny face as if it would offend Kyuubi. _**'Oh but you see, I do, I want you to repeat this sequence of seals and say Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Kitsune.' **'Why should I do that?' _Naruto was a bit suspicious but did not voice out his opinion. **_'Just do it you pile of meat, otherwise I will eat your children!'_**

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, did the correct hand seals and called out, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Kitsune." A puff of smoke appeared a quite small one in fact. When the smoke cleared, a small fox was present there. Naruto blinked, and blinked again.

"What the hell is this? This thing, it's so small, what is the point of it," complained Naruto loudly, not aware the fox looked up at him. **"Foolish mortal, it is I the great Kyuubi no Kitsune!" **yipped the fox, with a small childish voice, trying to be evil. Naruto just stared, sweat-dropped and started to laugh real hard. "Holy hell, you're tiny! HAHAHAHA. This just made my day. This is the great Kyuubi no Kitsune, the tiny ass puffball of cuteness and love."

"**I am not cute, nor am I cuddly and loveable. I am the great demon of lore, killing everything in my path!" **The Kyuubi paused, realizing that his voice did not sound evil. "I never said you were cuddly. I just outsmarted you, baka-kitsune." Naruto went into a fit of laughed and pointed at the Kyuubi, calling him chibi.

"**Enough! Stop laughing now kit or you will never make it out of this village." **Naruto immediately stopped laughing at this, straightened his shoulders and looked down at the fox. **"Let me explain. I am a summon creature, and I will disappear when I run out a chakra, which won't happen until dinner time. This is sadly my permanent form; I won't grow any bigger so I can kill more bags of meat with flesh attached to them.**

"**Good, your goal, is to basically, beat me at hide-n-seek. You hide and I try and find you. Your goal is to get to this tree, without being caught." **The Kyuubi looked at Naruto like a ravage animal. **"Good Luck, have fun, do die." **The Kyuubi turned around and began counting. Naruto sprinted into the forest and hid inside a hollow tree. **"Ready or not, here I come, kukuku." **Naruto kept his eyes and ears peeled, waiting for the Kyuubi to find him. He gradually leapt from tree to tree, trying to keep himself from being caught in the winds direction. He kept himself in the dark, minimized movement as much as he could.

He was nearing the clearing, almost slipping on a few branches, when suddenly; he was tackled to the ground by Kyuubi. **"Heh, you will have to do better then that kit."**

This kind of game continued for one week. Naruto also practiced kunai and shuriken throwing. Kyuubi would force him to practice this at night. He kept ranting that the kunai could be used to end fights quickly, without have to waste energy. He would run in the morning, practicing his hand seals. He also learned how to climb trees using chakra. This caused for some laughs to the Kyuubi because he got to watch Naruto fall on his ass the first time he tried to walk up the tree. Kyuubi only taught him one jutsu, which was Ninpou: Kajou Chouin (Ninja Arts, Item Sealing). This jutsu would seal items inside a scroll, so Naruto could travel much easier. Naruto saw the usefulness in this jutsu for going on trips and missions. To release the items, all he had to do was form the hand seals and say Kai.

He played hide-n-seek with Kyuubi everyday, and did not win until the last day, October 17th. This was a small victory for Naruto and a good thing because he now knew that he was increasing in strength, stealth and speed. Today was the day when the merchants were getting ready to leave from the Kyuubi festival.

Naruto was walking home from the store after picking up some kunai and shuriken when he heard some merchants talking. "Hey Kenji, we will be eating out on our little caravan in 4 hours to Kirigakure, we need to get the supplies ready." "Yea, I know Hikuijin. The grunts of our little business are currently getting them. We set out at noon.**"** Naruto heard all he needed to.** _'This is your chance to leave, take it now. You will be better of in another ninja village,'_** replied the Kyuubi in an order issuing voice. Naruto nodded his head and rushed on home to pack his bag with belongings. He was going to become a stowaway. Once he finished packing his cloths, some food and water as well as ninja supplies. He grabbed a piece of paper and began to write to the Hokage

**_Dear Hokage-sama_**,

**_I am going away, and I will not be coming back. Hopefully the village will be happier without me. I am leaving on my own, I think it is for the best that I do. Good luck in the future old-man and come chuunin exams, you may see me again._**

**_Uzumaki Naruto_**

Satisfied with the letter, he headed back to where the caravan was. Once he arrived, he went under the only Genjutsu that he knew, Henge (Transform). He changed himself into an innocence looking bystander. He snuck into the caravan, which had boxes and crates littered about. He stuck his pack into an empty crate and changed into a crate himself. The caravan started to move and Naruto heard the gates of Konoha open. He felt the jerk of a small speed increase and the closing of the gates. His lost thought before he left Konoha was** _'_**_I wonder where I will end up; I hope it is a great place, this is the beginning of my new and improved life.'_

**

* * *

****  
**

Once the gates were closed, Naruto canceled the henge. He deemed it safe to be this why while the caravan was moving. Knowing that this trip was most likely going to be a bit boring, he actually brought some books with him.** '**_I can't believe I am actually going to read books, urrgh what in the world got over me?'_Naruto mused this to himself for a while but finally cracked open the book. The book was titled _Shinobi Wars_, and it was a recap of all the wars recording in shinobi history as well as tactics one can use during war time. Naruto flipped the page to number and read:

_Dear Reader,_

_Thank you for purchasing this book. I may suggest although that you practice the games of Go or Chess with a friend before reading this book. Those games help the mind develop fast and slow decision making skills, which are needed to understand this book._

_Ariagto,_

_Nara Shiurma_

Naruto pondered this for a whole five seconds, he knew exactly who he was going to challenge in Go. _'Oh furball, come out come out wherever you are.' 'We are going to play some Go in our mind, won't this be fun?' **'Why does Kami-sama hate me so… oh yea forgot, I'm a demon.'**_ Kyuubi thought to him self for a second, now realizing that his trip won't be so boring after all. **_ 'Alright kid, we will play Go, but be afraid, very afraid, for I will kick your ass at this.' _**Naruto looked a bit riffled at someone actually saying that his as is going to be so called kicked. _'Hah! I know I'm smarter than you are. You are just like a teddy bear, ready to be cuddled by a 4 year old girl, who slobbers all over you. I'm going to beat the crap outta you!' _Naruto looked proud out this insult, thinking it's the best thing ever.**_ "Kit, that was pathetic. Try using this line, "why don't you go blow your brains out, you've got nothing to lose." That kit is the proper way to insult someone, remember that and remember it well."_**

Much bickering went on when these two played Go. Kyuubi pretty much kicked Naruto's ass, constantly. Naruto though, knew he was improving. At first he was getting his behind handed to him in two minutes, but eventually it grew to five minutes then even ten minutes. _**'Kit, you suck at this game. I am going to beat strategy into your brain if it's the last thing I do.' **'Feh, well I will get better, gonna need it as a shinobi.'_

Naruto felt the caravan suddenly stop. Quickly forming the hand seals for henge, he changed back into the crate in the far corner. While as a crate he thought to himself. _'It has not even been a day yet, why would we be stopping any time soon.' _That's when Naruto heard a roaring sound, as a battle cry. He quickly de-henged and looked outside. What he saw, was not a site a six year old should be seeing.

Bodies were scattered everywhere. He looked up and saw bandits attacking the guards to this caravan and sadly they were winning. He watched as their fists met in fury, defending each others life.

Naruto watched as the green haired man went for an uppercut on the bandit. The bandit dodged rapidly, with dust flying everywhere. He then unsheathed his black katana and swiftly went in for a low chop for the legs. The trader jumped, kicked the bandit in the face which sent that particular bandit to the ground to eat dust. Unfortunately for that trader, another bandit snuck up behind him. Using the axe in his hand, he went for a deadly strike horizontally. The trader did not even notice, as his torso was detached from his body. Blood splattered everywhere as the man screamed in agony for a second, and he died instantly.

Naruto was scared, and he knew it. He just witnessed his first murder and he had no idea what to do. He was trembling inside, afraid of being caught. Sadly for Naruto, the bandit turned around and saw him. With bloodlust evident in the eyes of the bandit, he charged at the kid. Naruto's eyes widen, he was frozen in fear. He knew he was going to die. He just about closed his eyes when the Kyuubi yelled in his mind. **_'KIT! Snap out of it! Get your ass to your kunai pouch and kill that bandit. You are going to die if you don't, and you can't die now!'_**

Kyuubi's voice snapped Naruto out of the frozen fear. Naruto got into his fighting stance at a quick pace, faster than the poor bandit could see. He quickly went for a kunai and brought it out like a pro. The bandit was closing in and quite fast, not realizing the kid had a weapon. Without even thinking of the repercussions, Naruto threw the kunai with deadly accuracy. He silently thanked the Kyuubi for ruthlessly training him in kunai and shuriken throwing.

The kunai whizzed through the air with high speeds and lodged itself in the bandit's throat. This caused blood to spew from his throat and the bandit clutched his throat. Blood went everywhere, sprawling all over the ground and getting on Narutos face. He fell over on the ground and slowly died a painful and gruesome death.

Naruto just stared at the dead body. The dead body… the death of a human, caused by him. At age six, Uzumaki Naruto had taken his first life. _'W-w-what have I done! I've killed, this… isn't good. I can't kill yet, it is just not right, it's not human.' **'Damn it kit! Get your ass out from angsty-lane. This is no time to pout and cry because of your first kill. You gotta get out of here and fast. You can angst all you when you get to the destination.' **'You're…'_ Naruto paused for a moment._ 'Right as usual…' _Naruto sniffed up his tears of sadness and wiped off the blood spatter on his face. Naruto jumped back into the wagon he was riding to gather his things.

When he jumped back into the wagon, the bandits started setting fire to the wagons ahead of the one Naruto was in. The carnage of the dead bodies of the traders and merchants were littered everywhere. Blood was all over the place; making it seem like a blood bath. The bandits were burning the bodies by gathering them up and tossing them into the abyss that is fire. This caused the horses that pulled Naruto's wagon to scare. They bolted off into the southwest direction, to avoid the burning and the slaughter of themselves.

At the sudden jolt of movement, Naruto fell backwards, hit his head, which knocked him unconscious.

* * *

When Naruto woke up, the first thing he noticed was the heat, and the second thing he noticed was that he was not moving... _'Holy hell, it's freakin hot.' **'Kit, Hell is not holy, it is most certainly unholy. I have been there I would know.' **_Naruto disregarded the sarcasm comming from Kyuubi. He poked his head out of the wagon. Momentarily blinded by the brightness, he rubbed his eyes. Once the eyes got used to the light the first thing he noticed was sand. A lot of sand. Sand in every direction he could look. 

"This does not seem like Kirigakure and the Water country to me," said Naruto to himself. _**'No shit Sherlock, which was easily the most obvious thing in the world.' **'Shut your pie hole Kyuubi, we need to find a village and fast.' _Naruto turned around behind and he noticed a wall. This was a very big wall, with a gate attached to it. _'How the hell did I not see this!' _Naruto sighed to himself. He realized that this was only an escape gate and not one he could enter in.

He went back inside the wagon and took everything he could. He found a crate full of yen, which he planned to use to rent out an apartment in this village. He also found a crate full of clothing. He decided to take these two things. He took out some scrolls and placed them on the ground. Naruto did some hand seals, and called out Ninpou: Kajou Chouin (Ninja Arts, Item Sealing). This caused the items to be sealed inside the scrolls. This is something Kyuubi taught him, earlier this week.

Naruto bagged the scrolls and walked outside. He noted that the horses were both dead. _'A shame, I was hoping to ride one.' _The Kyuubi had different thoughts although. _**'A shame, I was hoping to eat one.' **'Damn it furball, that is disgusting, how can you eat horse!' **'Because it tastes good brat. You pile of flesh bags don't understand the tastiness of a horse, you monkeys should try them. They are good.' **'That is disturbing. Just disturbing.' _Naruto sweat dropped and the thoughts Kyuubi had on eating horses.

Naruto headed along the wall, noting the smell of water. _'This seems like a port city, which is a good thing. Gonna need fresh water.' _Naruto walked along the wall, until he reached the main gate. It had an obvious path going right up to it. Naruto decided to use the scared child routine to get in. Naruto walked up the guard at the gate.

"Sir, I would like to enter this village. I need a home. Mine got burned down by bandits, please help me," whimpered Naruto in a fake voice, hoping to get in. The guard looked down at the young boy. The guard looked thoughtful for a moment, but he realized the strong chakra signature around the boy. _'Mm, he could grow up to be strong. I should let him in. Strong shinobi are in dire need here.' _"Alright kid, you can go on. I will escort you to Kazekage-sama right away to get you registered as a citizin, and enter you into the Ninja Academy." The guard, stopped for a moment, and looked back at the kid. He added in an after thought. "Welcome to Sunagakure, kid."

* * *

**A/N:** I hoped you liked the first chapter. It's going to be an interesting ride. Do note that this is AU and changes will be happening. The pairing is going to be Naruto/Kin if you guys did not know this already. If a lot of my readers want, it can be a Harem, although I'm sure if I could do a Harem justice. If not it will stay as just Naruto/Kin. What the readers may vote on is who Gaara should be with, if anyone at all. Do not vote any male characters though, I will not do Yaoi. Until then, Ja ne! 


	2. Bonds and Discoveries

**Destiny of a Shinobi**

By: Lord Myst

Chapter 2

Bonds and Discoveries

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; I only own any original characters

**A/N:** Please remember that this is an AU. Characters will be a bit OOC, and one character in this story will be different from canon, even though he is dead in canon (_hint, hint). _Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter, for it was fun to write. This chapter is also longer than my first one to! Enjoy the story!

* * *

"Sunagakure?" questioned Naruto. Naruto looked up at the gruff looking guard, "I was supposed to be going for Kirigakure." The guard looked down at the kid with a bemused expression on his face. Naruto thought this looked out of the place on the guard. "Sunagakure is not that bad. You will like it here. Plus as a bonus, you won't get pale." 

Naruto followed the guard through the streets of Suna. Idly wondering where the Kazekage tower was, he watched the civilians here go about their business. The first thing he immediately noticed was that he did not receive glares or anything. A few people were looking at him kind of oddly because of the mask though. _Oops, I really should have gone with out the mask, ah well the whisker marks are to dang noticeable._

After being lost in his thoughts for a little bit, he noticed the large tower at the end of the city. The spiral of a building actually had twists in it. To Naruto, it reminded him of the ice cream on an ice cream cone. Its color was sandy white, with glass bubbles as windows. It seemed to tower over all the other buildings. What Naruto did not understand, is why he heard seagulls, and saw the said animals on top of the tower.

Looking behind the tower, he saw his answer. Naruto stared at what he saw in awe. There was a port behind the Kazekage tower. The port seemed to stretch across the entire city. The docks were loaded with men working, small businesses and obviously ships. Dozens of ships were docked into the docks, with their captains' and crew working on them. He saw many more ships coming and going between the sea and the village.

The markets that were along the sides the walls were quite interesting. There were fish markets, with quite the selection of fish from tuna to salmon. There were herb shops along the docks, selling all kinds of herbs needed to create healing lotions and liquids. Many trinket shops seemed to line the docks as well. Places selling jewelry, pottery, silverware and other odds and ends that seemed to litter the place.

What Naruto smelled was a different story. It smelled like there was a lot of sushi bars along the area. He smelled a hint of dango and even some ramen. _This place looks so cool! I can't wait to explore it._

"Ano sa, ano sa. Guard-san, why is this village a port city?" Naruto looked up at the guard and added on to his statement. "We are in the desert, why is there water?" The guard chuckled for a moment, looking down at the kid he answered back, "Well kid, we need water to live don't we?" Then the guard smiled for a bit, which to Naruto looked a bit like seeing that scarred faced dude who likes to talk with people at Konoha smile. It was a creepy sight. "This is also a major source of our income. Besides having ninjas and their missions, this helps bolster our economy, and you do know what that is right?" At seeing Naruto nod he kept replying. "If we go into a shortage of ninja missions, this will help the village stay alive."

Naruto took in this information, as they walked into the Kazekage's tower. Naruto seemed a bit nervous as he was shaking in fear. _'Kyuubi, What should I do? Should I respect the Kazekage, manipulate him or something else?' **'This looks like he'll be one tough flesh bag, and especially I hate the ones with extra skin. Those ones are hard to eat. Anyways, respect him but do not give any information about me. They do not need to know that I exist.'**_

Naruto agreed with the Kyuubi on the information, but not the eating part. Naruto was lagging a little behind so Naruto speed up to the guards pace and followed the guard up the winding stairs. They eventually came to a pretty looking secretary. The guard walked up the secretary and muttered a few words. Naruto watched the secretary go into the big wooden double doors. Deciding that this may take awhile, Naruto sat down on the chairs in the waiting area. He took up some conversation to take up some time, with the Kyuubi.

'_Hey Kyuubi, what kind of jutsus should I learn? Katons? Fuutons? Hell Raitons would be awesome!' **'Settle down brat. I planned on teaching you mostly Suiton and Doton jutsus. These were my specialties. I know a few Katons you can have though. You will not learn many if any at all of the Raiton kind. You need near perfect control for those, and this you will never have.' **_Naruto hung his head in shame; he thought not being able to be perfect sucked. **_'Taijutsu is something that will take you years to learn. It's not your thing, but it is needed to get anywhere. You will also learn kinjutsu later on in your life. Flesh bags may suck at fighting, but the katana is a lovely killing weapon they invented.'_**

'_I get to learn how to fight with a katana? That is so cool, when do I start?' _Naruto was quite exciting at the prospect of being able to fight with a sword. _**'Not until you are at least 7 years old brat, you are too small. A katana is taller than you!' **'Damn furball, taking all the fun out of training,' _grumbled out Naruto.

Naruto was jerked out of his thoughts by a sudden voice, "The Kazekage will see you now." Naruto gulped and walked into the room. Once inside, he saw sitting at the head of the table was a man with the blue Kazekage robes on. He had his hat and veil off, which revealed his red hair and teal colored eyes. Naruto knew that this guy was powerful. He could feel it radiating off of him.

"Welcome to Sunagakure young one, what is your name?" The Kazekage finally spoke, looking down at the child with kindness in his eyes. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, what is your name Kazekage-sama?" Naruto answered the question politely. "Naruto is a very nice name to have, as for my name, I am called Soriyu Satoru. You can call me Kazekage-sama though. Now why are you in Sunagakure?" **_'Kit, tell the sand monkey the truth. Tell him where you are from. Mention me as a bloodline that will be helpful to your plight.'_**

"I used to live in Konohagakure sir. I ran away from there, looking for a better place to live. I have no parents. I lied to your guard to get in, I am so sorry!" _'Konoha? This is useful. I can turn one of their potential nins into my own. He seems strong. I can sense chakra just oozing out of him. Hopefully he meets my son Gaara, whom is mistreated here in Sun because of that blasted seal. I should have never done that, how foolish of me. His seal is hard to keep under control; hopefully this boy can help calm him down. I will need to get a seal specialist in here soon,' _the Kazekage thought to himself.

"It's okay Naruto-kun. I am not angry at you. I will get you an apartment, since you do not have any parents and you look like you can take care of yourself. It will be in the Suna Living District. This is a middle class area, so it is not so bad," replied the Kazekage after much thought. Naruto looked really happy at this. He was dying to hug the man, but refrained himself. Naruto looked up when he noticed Kazekage-sama began to talk again.

"Now, please tell me about anything special. This will be going on your record as a ninja. All kids are put in the Academy, but not everyone makes it. Anything you would like to add?" Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment and replied. "Kazekage-sama, I have a bloodline, maybe a limit I think. I have two types of chakra. One is normal, which is blue and the other is red. The red chakra heals me when I'm hurt. It also supplies more chakra when I'm out. Is this special enough?"

The Kazekage was stunned. This kid had a bloodline, which the leaf-nins just dumped him like a commoner. Oh yes, this kid would be useful. He is very useful to Suna, to much potential to waste. The Kazekage realized the kid had finished talking and told him, "Yes that is special Naruto-kun. You will be strong, I am sure of it." Naruto smiled at the praise, it is something he rarely got.

"Now, I will have a chuunin escort you around Sunagakure to get used to the place. He will answer any questions you have. He will also show you to your apartment after the tour has finished. Is this acceptable?" The Kazekage asked the kid after the long winded response. "Good, thanks for getting me out of paper work by the way, I hate the stuff." Naruto grinned at the thought of easing this mans work load. "Sadly, having you in the village requires more paper work, ah well." Naruto bobbed his head down after hearing this. The Kazekage continued to speak, "The chuunin that will be escorting you around is named Hatisaki Ikasu. Just call Ikasu-sensei, for he will be your Academy teacher in a few years."

Ikasu appeared from the door and greeted Naruto, "Yo, I will be your tour guide this evening. Fasten in your shinobi wire, its going to be a bumpy ride!" Naruto laughed at the man's antics. Naruto turned around, bowed and thanked the Kazekage. With a smile on the faces of Naruto and the Kazekage, Naruto followed Ikasu out the door and onto the tour.

* * *

"Alright Naruto, I guess its time to go on the ride. I will be taking you to all the districts, explaining the major clans along the way," Ikasu said in quite the lecture mode. Ikasu put on a smile and began to shout out, "Please keep all hands and feet, as well as shinobi equipment inside the ride at all times. Thank you." Naruto laughed at the weirdness of this guy. He assumed it was to help kids pay attention in class. 

The first place they stopped at was the Training District, as loads of people were sparing here. "This is the Training District," started Ikasu. "This is where you train most of the time. You can come back here, lets move along now." Naruto was sadden that he didn't get to watch the sand-nins spar more, to get more jutsus out of it.

Naruto followed the chuunin into what appeared to be the Market District. Many civilians and shops lined the streets. He noticed stores that sell shinobi gear, house gear and other miscellaneous items. _These stores seem a lot hell more trustworthy than the crap at the docks.' **'The crap at the docks is for poor flesh bags. The stuff here is for the middle and upper class flesh bags. In the end you are all flesh bags, why classify yourselves. Foolish mortals.' **'Ahh can it fuzz ball, there is no need to be sarcastic now.'_

"This is the Market District Naruto. Here you can buy everything you need. Luckily, you will not be living poorly so do not worry about money. Kazekage-sama will be covering your costs until you are a genin," explained Ikasu-sensei. Naruto perked up at hearing this. "Why would he do that Ikasu-sensei? I'm just a little child." "You are a little child with a bloodline. You are valuable to any village you are in," answered Ikasu. Naruto looked kind of put off at the thought of being used, but he tried to hide it form Ikasu-sensei. Ikasu caught this look though and added on to his thought, "The Kazekage still cares for you. He would offer this to any child, but don't be surprised if you have a little bit of extra ryu than normal." Naruto seemed placated by this information.

They continued to walk down the street. They walked up another gate and went on through. When they emerged, Naruto noticed the most obvious thing. This place was for the rich. There are two large luxurious manors, apparently held the clans of Sunagakure. Each manor had a training ground, gardens and a lot of other things. He watched as shinobi were sparing. His eyes widen though when he heard a jutsu being called out. "Garasu Sohen no Jutsu (Glass Chips Technique)" Narutos eyes were amazed when glass chips were summoned out of the air and launched at the enemy. What the other guy did amazed Naruto even more. The other shinobi called out "Garasu Tate no Jutsu (Glass Shield Technique)." This caused a slate of thick glass to form around the shinobi which caused the glass chips bounced off of harmlessly.

Naruto looked over to Ikasu and asked, "Who are they and why can are they able do glass jutsus?" Ikasu looked down at Naruto. "As you may have noticed, this is the Bloodline District. Most major bloodlines live here." Ikasu looked thoughtful for a moment and began to speak, "That clan over there has the ability to do glass jutsus. This is only a bloodline and a not a bloodline limit. They are the Haryuko clan. They tend to fight usually using only their glass techniques. Most of them are actually fairly nice, for they are a newer clan in Sunagakure."

Naruto looked thoughtful for a second spoke, "Does that mean they are horrible against fire jutsus?" Ikasu chuckled and thought to himself '_This kid is really smart. He will be a great ninja one day.' _"Yes Naruto, that means they are weak to fire jutsus, you catch on quickly." Naruto beamed at the praise.

"Allow me to explain the other clans in this district Naruto," explained Ikasu. Naruto nodded his head, eager to learn information about his new allies. "We have a clan here that has jutsus that affect the temperature. These guys are quite skilled in using wind jutsus to in combination with their temperature jutsus. They are called the Kikorusi clan. They are a very team oriented clan, so you would be lucky to get one of them on your genin team."

They kept on going a little bit farther until they got to the next manor. He watched as these shinobi would fight, using a form of genjutsu that confused him. _Why is a clan like this using genjutsu?' _ After letting Naruto soak in that information he began to speak again. "This manor houses an interesting bloodline. These guys specialize in mirage jutsus." Naruto looked confused for a moment and asked, "Isn't a mirage just a genjutsu, like a normal one?" Ikasu chuckled and answered back, "Well these mirage jutsus only work if there is heat. Also the normal command kai, to cancel and disrupt genjutsus, does not work on these genjutsus." Naruto looked shocked at this. That is a power bloodline he thought.

"They are the Shikyrou clan. They work really well together with the Kikorusi clan because their bloodlines correspond with each other. Often times you will see them on the same teams," explained Ikasu. Naruto took in this information. It was useful to him. He could learn how to defend against these clans and beat the crap out of the most likely quite arrogant clan heads and council.

They walked a little farther until they got to a large house with an odd smell. _What is that I smell Kyuubi? _**_'Smells like a cat, I hate cats, as they are almost as bad as flesh bags.' _**Naruto chuckled at the Kyuubi, when he saw two people fighting. His eyes widen when he saw lions along side the fighters. He watched them turn into a beast like form themselves, that of a lion. They grew a mane and began to attack each other using interesting taijutsu that seemed to require impressive speed.

Naruto would have kept gawking, but stopped when Ikasu began to speak again. "This is the home of the lion users. They use lions as companions in battle as well as use special jutsus that correspond with the lions. These guys tend to be really good at tracking things down." Naruto was wide eyed at that, the thought of using lions in battle was a bit scary. Ikasu added in afterthought, "They are the Raizuka clan. They tend to be brash individuals and not so good with stealth."

Naruto watched as the next manor showed a bunch of people, who all looked the same fighting. They had grey eyes with sandy brown hair. Naruto watched in amazement as he saw wind being forced out of their palms and hit their opponents. He watch them trade blow for blow is a style with much fluid and grace. Ikasu began to explain who these people were.

"This manor is the largest and houses the most powerful clan in Sungakure, the Hyrojuga clan. They practice a wind type taijutsu called Fuikygun. The clan has a main house and a branch house. The branch house has a seal placed on them. It's kind of like the seal the Hyuuga use. The Kazeinshou (Wind Seal) locks the bloodline away when they die. It is placed on their hand, and they can even torture them using the seal." Naruto looked horrified that anyone could do such a thing to their family. Ikasu looked sad and began to speak. "The main house controls everything. Right now though there is a dispute in the family because there are two possible heirs to the clan head. They are twins. The girl is named Kaori and she is very aggressive, and considered stronger than her brother. While the boy, is named Kouya, who is more passive and considered weaker. They both are actually your age, 6 years old. It is sad that they are fighting over who should be heir already," droned Ikasu sadly. Naruto could tell he did not like this clan much.

"That clan is also very arrogant. They only use their taijutsu and their special jutsus. They have other jutsus that help them, which only they can do. Never do you see one use something that is non Hyrojuga."

Naruto just stared at him. This clan sounds like a bunch of fools. He intended to fix this later on his life. Naruto turned around and saw an empty manor. This seemed suspicious to Naruto, so he turned around and asked Ikasu-sensei, "Ano, sensei, why is that manor empty?"

Ikasu turned around and looked at what Naruto pointed at. _'He's pointing at THAT clan's manor, I won't tell him it's a secret, just say that it is for sale.' _"Mmh... Naruto-kun, that manor is just for sale," answered Ikasu.

**'**_**Brat, he's lying, I can smell that from even in here, that's pathetic.' **'He's lying! It is probably a big secret then. I will respect it I guess, but I should pester around to learn about it, that would be cool.' _

Naruto and Ikasu left the Bloodline District and entered to what Naruto thought was the Living District. It was filled with nice houses, all lush with colors and people. Nobody here seemed poor or rich either, it was like a middle class. "Naruto-kun," began Ikasu. Naruto turned his head to look at Ikasu. "This is the Suna Living District. This is also where you will reside. You will spend a lot of time here, as there are various training grounds in here as well playgrounds for you to play at." Naruto was happy at this information, for he didn't want to go out into the desert to often to train.

"I will take you to your apartment now, and thus concludes the ride." Naruto followed Ikasu to a building with around 10 doors. Walking up stairs, he noticed that there was a hallway of doors with a ledge on the other side, each with a label on it. They stopped at a door labeled _Apartment 2C. _Naruto thought to himself '_Damn it. Am I doomed to live in apartment 2C all my life?' _"This is your apartment Naruto-kun. Here is your key. Inside the apartment you only have appliances and a bed. You will need to buy everything else, and I wish you a pleasant day." With that, Ikasu left Naruto in a cloud of smoke. _'Man I wish I could do that awesome jutsu!' _**_'In time kit, for now lets go inside and see your new accommodations.' _**With that thought in mind, Naruto put the key in the lock and opened the door.

* * *

Inside the apartment, there were several things that he noticed. It was completely bare and it was bigger than his old one at Konoha. The apartment had a fairly large living room. Stepping in, he walked down the hallway. The walls were made of wood, with a dark brown coating on them. The floors were a nice beige wooden floor. There was one bedroom in the house, as well as a kitchen and dining room combo. The only bathroom in the house was connected to the bedroom. It had only the basic appliances. He dusted a fairly large layer of dust though. _Damn, I am going to have to clean this place up. I don't want to do that. __'**Haha, puny little kitling is going to have to clean. Boo hoo, are you are going to cry?' **'Shut up fuzz ball, I just don't like cleaning. Don't make me come in there and throw plushy toys at you.' '**Plushy toys? The horror! I concede, I concede, please don't come in here and do that.'**_

Naruto snickered at Kyuubi for being afraid of little harmless plushy toys. After getting out of the awe of having a better home, he decided that now was a good time to shop for furniture. He set down his bag on the floor with various scrolls. Grabbing the one labeled money, he unsealed it using the command kai. With that a crate popped out. He opened it up and took the entire contents. He now had enough money for various things he will need to run an apartment. With that in mind, he walked out the door and his lock his new home. Jumping over the ledge, he landed on his feet and burst to the Market District.

Arriving at the Market District, he searched for a furniture store. After finally finding one, he walked in and went up to the salesclerk. "Salesclerk-san, I need to get tables, chairs and couches for my new apartment, can you point me to the right direction?" asked Naruto. The salesclerk nodded and pointed to the correction section.

Walking over to the said section, Naruto picked up the tags he planned to purchase. He picked out a TV and a sofa tag. He also got a small coffee table for the living room. He pulled out two chairs and a small square table for the dining room. For his bedroom he selected the tag required for a dresser and a mirror.

Taking the tags up the salesclerk, he pulled out an empty scroll. The salesclerk told him that the price was 1,542 ryu. Paying the prices, he went to the back to collect the buys. At each item that he bought, he performed the item sealing jutsu, Ninpou: Kajou Chouin. After sticking the scrolls in his bag, he left the furniture store.

Looking around, he tried to find a grocery store. After finding one he went inside and got the necessary items. He picked up some milk, bread, fruits and vegetables as well as rice balls. Leaving the grocery store, he stopped at the accessory store to get pots, pans and other much needed items to live. After around three hours of shopping he was tired and done for the day.

Leaving the store, he walked home. After getting back to his district, he accidentally bumped into a kid. "Hey gaki, watch we're you are going. Turn around, so I can kick your ass." Naruto turned around and saw the oddest thing he has yet to see in his short life. It was a kid in a black hooded jumpsuit with odd markings on his face, as if he tried to draw them on himself. Naruto asked the kid his name. "Who are you?" "I am Kankuro. I am the best ninja ever! Since you bumped into me, this requires me to kick your little scrawny ass."

Naruto jumped him and got into a fighting stance, ready for anything. What he was not ready for was when Kankuro pulled out a one foot tall doll. "What the hell? You are going to fight with a doll? That's not going to do much damage!" Naruto realized he spoke to soon when said doll started to move on its own and pulled out kunai and other various sharp objects.

"You were saying dobe? This doll is going to kick your ass," yelled Kankuro confidently. The doll sounded shot forward at average speed with a sharp kunai in its hand. Naruto dodged out of the way as the doll struck, rolled on the floor and pulled out a kunai. _'**Hey kit, that boy is a puppet fighter. He uses Chakra strings to control the puppet. Just aim for the puppeteer.'** _Naruto agreeing with the Kyuubi fired four kunai at the kid. All four kunai impacted their target, the hands of the kid. Kankuro screamed in rage, and the doll dropped from his hands and stopped moving as it lost it's life at the sudden pain in Kankuro's arms.

"Never bully me punk, I don't take kindly to it." Naruto sneered this at the boy. Kankuro looked up the kid and noticed he was dead serious. He picked up his doll, while wrapping up his hands in cloth and went running while screaming for his daddy.

Naruto thought it served the punk right and continued on home. Once arrived home, he unsealed everything in his bag. Moving them to the spots needed in the house, he ate a rice ball to sooth his growing hunger.

After this was done he sat down on the sofa and had a chat with the Kyuubi. _'So fuzz ball, what should I do about my training for the next six years?'__**'You will continue to run laps around the Suna wall. Also, I will be teaching you various jutsus. I can't teach you any Doton jutsus, because there is none here. I will teach you Fuuton, Katon and Suiton jutsus. I will also teach you various nitpicks and tricks of the shinobi profession.' **'That sounds cool. Hopefully, I will become strong. What should I do about genjutsu and taijutsu?'_

The Kyuubi thought for a moment and replied, _**'Taijutsu is something you will need to find an instructor for. I have paws and obviously have no taijutsu training. Find a Kenjutsu trainer to. A katana is something that every shinobi should be well skilled with, but they are not.'** _Naruto nodded, just dying to learn how to kill people with a katana. _'A**s for genjutsu, I will help you learn how to counter some of it, but it will always be a weakness for you.'**_

Naruto knew he couldn't be perfect. He looked at the clock and noticed it was late. He thanked the Kyuubi and walked into the bedroom. He put on his pajamas and walked over to the bed. Climbing into the bed, he could not wait until tomorrow. His first real day in a village that does not hate him really sounded exciting. Training starts tomorrow he thought and he quickly, fell asleep.

* * *

Waking up before sunrise, Naruto put on his training gear. He noticed that more weight was added to his body. _'Eh? I must be getting used to it at a faster than I thought.' _He went into his kitchen and prepared a good breakfast. Well to him a single muffin was as good of breakfast as any. 

After eating he took a quick burst outside and jumped over the rail. Landing on his feet, he jolted to the ramp that led up to the wall. Luckily for him, the wall was very wide, which allowed shinobi to run laps on it. Naruto started at the north end. He ran to the south end, than back up north.

While running, he would practice his hand seals, do flips off the stone slaps attached to the wall and most importantly, play the game of chess with Kyuubi in his mind. Naruto moved his queen in front of the king and called check. _'Hah, take that Kyuubi. I am going to win this time!' _Kyuubi simply moved his bishop and took the queen. **_'Gaki, you rush in to much, actually try and think up a strategy.' _**This game went on for hours as Naruto ran laps. This also helped his ability to multi-task while doing things. He could plan in his head, fight and even do something meaningless, like a read a book.

After around two hours of running, Naruto slowed down to a stop. He jumped off the wall and landed on the roof of a building nearby. Jumping at fast as he could he started to perform jumps, flips and other acrobatic things in the air to help train himself. Finally arriving in the Training District, he selected a vacant training area and began to have a conversation with the Kyuubi.

_'__So Kyuubi, what jutsu am I going to learn today?'_**_ 'Today kit, you are going to learn three jutsus.' _N**aruto was excited on hearing this. He then proceeded to ask what jutsus,**_'_**_Which ones will I learn, I hope they kick ass.' _**_'__You will learn the other two basic academy jutsus, Bunshin no Jutsu and _****_Kawarimi no jutsu.' _**Naruto nodded, realizing the importance of both of those jutsus, and the Kawarimi is a very crucial skill for any ninja. _**'I will also teach you a Katon jutsu. You will learn Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (**Grand Fire Ball Technique**).' 'That jutsu will be helpful for you in this part of the world. Sadly, the Fuuton jutsus many sand-nins use will null the fire. But there are a good number ofclans outside here that are vulnerable to fire and not many sand-nins use fire.'**_

Naruto was exciting at learning his first real jutsu, but first he had to learn the other two basic jutsus. Naruto had an abrupt thought and expressed it out to Kyuubi. _'Hey fuzz ball, how did you learn about human jutsus and how do you know the correct hand seals?' _Kyuubi was shocked that the brat actually asked him this question. Kyuubi then began to explain it to Naruto. **_'When I was only a few hundred years old, I stumbled upon a group of humans that worshiped foxes. Me being a big nine tailed fox took advantage of this. They would give me gifts, for protecting their village. I did this for around 100 years. The village was struck with a terrible epidemic at that time. The ones left alive, gave me all their scrolls on the human jutsus.'_**

Contrary to popular belief, Naruto loved history. This was interesting stuff to learn, as long as it was about war. He oohed and ahhed at the correct places. He just thought history on politics was boring.

Kyuubi began to speak again. _**'Knowing that I would most likely fight or be with humans in the future, I memorized the hand seals as well jutsus used. I can just flash the memory of the seals to you, than you can do them.' **'Wow that was a sweet history tale. You can send me the memories now.'_

Once receiving the memory on how to do the Bunshin no Jutsu, he went through the seals practicing them. As soon as he got that done he attempted the jutsu. After a small puff, he looked at his clones. Well to be accurate he looked down at his clones. "What the hell is that? This thing looks dead!" Naruto screamed. The clone had a sickly looking face and looked fairly lifeless. **_'It seems to be that this jutsu takes too little chakra for you to do. To get this jutsu right, you would need to create around 100 clones.'_**

Naruto attempted the jutsu again, forcing as much chakra as he could, but he still felt it fail. _'Kyuubi, can you tell me what is going wrong?' **'Sure gaki, I will check your tenkutsu.' 'I've looked into your chakra to see where this disruption is coming from. There is a single tenkutsu in both of your hands that need fixed. This will only take a moment, but will cause pain. I am so going to enjoy this.'**_

Right away, Naruto felt the pain coarse through his body and up to his hands. He seethed in agony as he dropped to the ground, trying his best not to scream. Succeeding in not screaming, he felt the pain finally go away. While getting up and he questioned the Kyuubi about the pain. _'Damn it Kyuubi, did you have to make it hurt so much?' **'Yes.' **_Naruto sweat dropped at such a straightforward answer. **_'Get back to work; you can probably do that Bunshin jutsu now.'_**

Naruto nodded while grumbling and did the jutsu again. To his surprise it worked, as ten regular clones fazed into existence and they looked exactly like a healthy Naruto. Kyuubi then explained the jutsu to him. **_'It creates illusions of the caster, in other words, clones. These are basic clones that aren't real. If they are hit by something, they automatically disappear. Also they cast no shadows, thus are easy to detect.' _**Naruto was about to dismiss the jutsu as worthless when he thought about it for a second. _'Using this jutsu, along with another clone skill would become deadly, this is actually quite useful.'_

'_**Now it is time to teach the Kawarimi no jutsu. I will send you the hand seals for them now. I want you to summon me for a while. I will through stones at you and you need Kawarimi out of being hit.' **_Naruto got the hand seals slashed into his brain and he summoned the Kyuubi using Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Kitsune. A small puff of smoke appeared and of course when it cleared the tiny Kyuubi stood in its prodigious grandeur. Naruto still couldn't resist and laughed at the puny size of the puff ball.

"**Kit, stop laughing and get ready, I am going to start throwing stones now." **Naruto got ready and watched the Kyuubi. He began to do the seals for the jutsu but was to slow. He was already hit by a rock. "**Get faster kit, do the hand seals faster!" **Naruto went through the hand seals as fast as he could and whispered, "Kawarimi no Jutsu." A small puff of smoke appeared and he switched with a log near by, causing the stone to hit the log. **"Good kit, you are getting better. Let's practice this for an hour."**

Naruto spent about an hour dodging rocks using the Kawarimi no jutsu. He was become so good at it; he nearly did it without second thought when he needed to. They also practiced plan old dodging as well. Naruto was getting quite skilled at detecting Kyuubi and dodging the rocks and other things that were thrown at him. By then, the Kyuubi had puffed away.

It was around one in the afternoon and Naruto took a lunch break. After words, he began to question the Kyuubi on the Katon jutsu he will be learning. _'What is it like and how should I practice it fuzz ball?' **'You see that pond over there? I want you practice it by blasting the fireball into the pond.' 'Now the jutsu is like this, it is simple a jutsu where the user blows a large ball of fire from his mouth.'**_

Naruto sweat dropped at the simple answer. Walking over the pond, while receiving the hand seals for it, he began to get ready to work on it. Gathering chakra to his lungs he went through the seals, ending on the tiger seal. Calling out "Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu," he proceeded to blow out. He then started to wonder why he did not feel heat. Even though he did not feel heat, he watched a giant fireball spew out of his mouth and hit the pond. The fireball was about the size of a wagon. _'Sweet, I did the jutsu on my first try!' **'Good job kit. I want you to set up piles of sand all around you. Make each a different size. Practice the jutsu while moving as well as practicing the amount of chakra needed for the right size of fireball.'**_

Naruto nodded and began doing as the Kyuubi instructed. At first he was having trouble creating the right size fireball for the job, but after twenty minutes he got it down. **_'It is around six in the evening now. You are only six, and there is no reason to over work you. You still need to fight a taijutsu and kenjutsu trainer.'_**

Naruto was happy that training was done for today and went in search for someone to teach him taijutsu and Kinjutsu. Along the way he met a bunch of kids playing a game that involved a ball. He noticed one kid who seemed to not as included with the others. He was staring at the kids as if he was not allowed to play. He had red hair and he was holding a teddy bear. Naruto went over to the boy and said, "Hi, my name is Uzumaki Naruto, what is yours?"

Gaara was startled that someone was talking to him. "No… go away… the sand will hurt you. Please I can't have friends." **_"Heh, another pathetic twerp is walking up this kid. I can finally kill someone. Wait a second… what is that I feel? Kyuubi? No no no, I will be good. I promise! I'm sorry Kyuubi-sama!" _**thought Shukaku. Kyuubi felt the familiar chakra signature of the one tailed demon, Shukaku and informed Naruto. **_"Kit, this kit has the Shukaku sealed in him, with a faulty seal. That is the one tailed demon. He likes to mess with his containers minds, but it can be fixed if someone is a master at seals."_**

Naruto was surprised at this information and bluntly told Gaara, "I have a demon to, his name is Kyuubi." Gaara's eyes widen and he felt as ease, knowing there was someone else just like him. "Now I ask you again, what is your name?" asked Naruto. Gaara looked thoughtful for a moment and answered, "My name is Soriyu Gaara, will you be my friend? My demon is afraid of you." Naruto smiled at the thought of his new friend and said, "Yes, you can be my friend, we will be best friends. Your father is the Kazekage eh? Want to spar?" Gaara looked up at him, and smiled for the first time in a while and thought to himself? _'Is this what it means to have a friend, I hope I make more.' _"Yes my father is the Kazekage as he is the only one nice to me until you came along. Okay Naruto, lets spar," answered Gaara. The two walked to the Training District, with smiles on their faces.

* * *

Once they arrived at the training grounds, both of them got into a fighting stance. Well Naruto got into one, Gaara just stood there. "Ready to fight?" asked Naruto. At seeing Gaara's nod, Naruto shouted, "BEGIN!" Naruto moved in for the attack with a punch. His eyes widen when sand was instantly brought up to defend Gaara. _'He has an automatic defense? Damn it how am I going to break it?' _ Gaara then lashed out his sand at the unsuspecting Naruto. He cried out, "NO, Mommy, please don't harm him, please just stop. Please just stop NOW! He is my friend." 

Naruto finally noticed the sand coming at him, but noticed it was slowing down somewhat due to the outcries of Gaara. He was confused as to why Gaara was screaming this but he snapped out of his thoughts. Forming quick hand seals he whispered out, "Kawarimi no Jutsu." Replacing himself with a log, he watched as the log got crushed with over whelming might. _'That would have sucked to be in the middle of that, geesh this kid is good.'_ Quickly deciding on another form of action, Naruto went through a set of seals as fast as he could and cried out, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu."

A large fireball rushed towards Gaara, and his sand instantly went up to protect him. Naruto was horrified, thinking that he used too much chakra, but as the smoke cleared saw that Gaara was still there, completely unharmed. What he did noticed was that some of the sand had turned into glass. _'So there is a weakness, interesting. I need to learn strong Katon jutsus.'_

"Gaara, stop, you won. I can't do anything else." Gaara nodded, finally he thought himself, and he would not to have to kill his new friend.

Gaara and Naruto started to walk on to their respective homes, chatting about subjects like jutsus, being a ninja and going to the future Ninja Academy. They both could not wait to go the Ninja Academy at age 7. Naruto had learned through Gaara that his siblings were Temari, who was 10 and Kankuro who was 8. They were both afraid of him. Gaara learned that Naruto just came to Suna yesterday. He also told him about his encounter with Kankuro and Gaara just laughed at the stupidity of his own brother. While walking down the street they noticed a white haired guy being chased down by screaming, toweled girls. Taking pity on the old man, Naruto and Gaara saved him.

Jiraiya was running away from angry women after he was caught peeking. He was suddenly hoisted up into a tree and noticed that his saviors, were two little kids.

He bent down and looked at the kids. Decided to thank them for saving him, he asked, "Hey, kid what's your name?" pointing at Naruto. "Uzumaki Naruto, this is my friend, Sabaku no Gaara, what's your name mister? Why were those girls chasing you?"

Jiraiya's eyes slightly widen at the two kids names, realizing them as the demon containers. '_Why is Naruto out of Konoha, this is interesting two_ _jinchuuriki_ _in one spot. I will have to keep an eye on Suna because of Akatsuki._' Jiraiya decided to introduce himself using his famous dance. "I AM THE FAMOUS AND LEGENDARY SANNIN, THE TOAD HERMIT, JIRAIYA!"

Both Gaara and Naruto sweet dropped at such a stupid dance. Naruto got the bright idea though, remembering what sannin where from when the old man Hokage would talk to him. Naruto thought to himself, '_I cant let him get away without helping my friend, knowing him, he would run away if he wandered out of my sight.' _Naruto grinned and began to ask in an awed vioice, "Jiraiya, I have heard of you. You are a powerful ninja, one of the three legendary sannin. Can you help my friend? His seal is faulty. Can you fix it? It affects his mind. I just want my friend to be treated normally."

Jiraiya looked at him, grinning at the praise and said, "sure thing kid, I'll fix his seal, in fact I can do it right now." Jiraiya went through a series of hand seals and said, "Omnigokuin (Mind Seal)." This placed a seal, were Gaara's existing one was, which was on his forehead, the kanji 'Ai' was his seal.

Gaara instantly fell asleep at the sealing being placed on him, for he could finally sleep. "There kid, that should do it. That sealed away the Shukaku from affecting his mind. You should take him home kid, for now I am going to go. I am sure we will see each other again, some other time."

Naruto watched Jiraiya jump away, while grabbing Gaara. He took Gaara back to the Kazekage tower and went to look for him. He saw the Kazekage walking around the lobby, as if he his day was done.

The Kazekage turned around and asked Naruto, "Why did you attack my son, Kankuro?" in a hasrh voice. Naruto shuddered at being found out and answered, "I accidently bumped into him. He pulled out a puppet and began to attack me, as if it was such a big thing that I bumped into him." The Kazekage began to speak again but noticed, "Why is my youngest son, Gaara, in your arms? Answer me now!" He seemed to have forgotten about the Kankuro incident.

Naruto gulped and replied, "Kazekage-sama, I found your son Gaara. He fell asleep." The Kazekage turned around, wide eyed at the fact Gaara was sleeping and no Shukaku was coming out. "Naruto, how is he sleeping? When he sleeps, the monster Shukaku comes out," asked the Kazekage in worry. "Well you see, I met Gaara at the playground. After a spar, we saved this pervert from being beaten by these women in towels. It turned out it was Jiraiya. He fixed his seal for me cause I asked him to for payment."

Kazekage sweet dropped at the thought of anyone saving that pervert from being beaten. "Alright, I'll take my son, you can go home now." Naruto nodded and went on home, ready to face a new day.

* * *

In the middle of the desert, Jiraiya was traveling at high speeds towards Konoha. He thought to himself, '_Why did Sarutobi-sensei allow Naruto to live in Suna? How did he get here?' 'I will need to ask him myself. To Konoha I go for the first time in nine years.'_

* * *

**A/N:** Well that is the end of Chapter two of this installment. Hopefully it was good. With all the families I created, it should get interesting. Don't work about the age thing. Next chapter, about half way through, I will time skip to age twelve. The first half will be training and Academy stuff. Second half will be graduation and stuff. By the way, I realize the Yondaime Kazekage did a 180 with Gaara's treatment, but it is needed for this fic. Please remind yourselves that this is AU. 

Also, I will not be doing a Harem. I do not feel I could do it justice. It will stay Naruto x Kin. Gaara may or may not get a pairing, you guys can still vote on this. Hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Until then, Ja ne!

* * *

Naruto knows these Jutsus:

**Henge**

**Ninpou: Kajou Chouin (Item Sealing)**

**Bunshin no Jutsu**

**Kawarimi no Jutsu**

**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu**


	3. Training, Genin and Survival

**Destiny of a Shinobi**

By: Lord Myst

Chapter 3

Training, Genin and Survival

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; I only own any original characters

* * *

**A/N: **Do note that I am changing the main pairing of this story. It is no longer going to be Naruto/Kin. It is going to be **Naruto/Tenten. ** This may annoy a few readers because they wanted Kin. I am sorry but if I write Naruto/Kin right now, it would feel forced. **Naruto/Tenten **fits better. 

Check out my author page for updates on my progress with this fic. Now I hope you guys like this chapter, it is even longer than the last one! Have fun reading.

* * *

The Sandaime was an old man. He just wishes he could relax right now but he cannot. He just has way too much paper work to complete. Tax reports, ANBU reports, economy reports, mission reports, laws and contracts, it just never ends. 

He was also worried about Naruto. The boy left only just a few days ago and he had no clue of where he went. He knew better than to send anyone after him though, ANBU and hunter-nins would just kill him outright, rather than bring him back. Where ever he was, he hoped that the boy was safe and in peace.

What he did not expect however was for something to come crashing through his window, or rather someone. He quickly looked over at the figure that cruised through his window. He noticed the long gray hair and immediately said, "Jiraiya, what brings you to Konoha? A new Icha Icha Paradise book finished? I can't wait for the next one. I just love reading about the nurse and doctor having fun," wheezed out the Sandaime in a perverted laugh.

Jiraiya looked up at his old sensei and replied back, "Err, Sensei. You're becoming worse than I am when it comes to being a pervert. That's not a good thing. For I am the super pervert! I must be surpassed by no one!" Both Jiraiya and the Sandaime shared a short laugh at this. Once the laughing ceased, Jiraiya began to speak.

"Anyways, no, unfortunately I am not here about the Icha Icha series. It is about news of the shinobi world, and odd news at that," answered Jiraiya. "Oh?" asked the Sandaime. "What news is this, Jiraiya? What does it pertain to?" "It pertains to a certain friend of ours, the Kyuubi container."

The Sandaime widen his eyes at this. "You have news of Naruto? Tell me. Now! I want to know where he is!" Jiraiya looked at him kinda funny and asked, "You know he left, yet you sent nobody to look for him? Why?"

"Because the ANBU and Hunter-nins would kill him outright in hate and loathing instead of bringing him back. Most people are happy he is gone, which is a sad thing. Nobody seems to miss him, and I mean nobody." Jiraiya looked pretty sad at this news, but knew that he better deliver the good news to the Sandaime before he delivers the extravagantly bad news.

"The boy is in Sunagakure, and he seems to have befriended the other demon container there. I fixed his friend's seal though, since they saved me from a ravage stampede of women." The Sandaime was relieved that Naruto was safe, but Sunagakure? That place was hard-core when it came to training ninja he thought. Luckily it wasn't as bad as Bloody Mist though. _'Someone actually saved him from pissed off girls; I wish I had that luxury.'_

"I guess he is doing well then huh? We will surely see him again, maybe for the Chuunin Exam or some other event. I have no doubt that he will grow strong," answered the Sandaime in a bit of a happy voice. Jiraiya thought for a moment and got a sudden flashback about those two talking to him. "Sarutobi-sensei, Naruto knows about the Kyuubi. He wouldn't have befriended Gaara otherwise, plus I sensed the Kyuubi's power briefly in the figure of Naruto."

"That is troubling news Jiraiya. Hopefully the Kyuubi mellowed out a bit in the last 6 years," answered the Sandaime. Jiraiya looked thoughtful and very doubtful about the mellowing of the Kyuubi for a moment and asked an important question, "Will you be sending ANBU or other ninja to retrieve Naruto?" "No, there is no need. He is probably happier where he is today. The sand-nins do not know about the Kyuubi, thus he is probably treated well. Leave him where he is," replied Sarutobi in an order-like voice.

"Alright sensei. We have some other _major_ problems though. A new organization has been created. They are called the Akatsuki. They are made up of S-class missing-nins." The Sandaime looked thoughtful and asked, "Who are the members and what is their goal?"

"There are as of right now 10 members, not including the Leader. I know Orochimaru is in this group. I also spotted the village secret S-class missing-nin, Hyuuga Hiro. I only know of one other member and that is Hoshigaki Kisame, one of the legendary seven swordsmen of Kirigakure." The Sandaime was a tad scared, that was a lot of strong people in one place. Jiraiya only knew 3 members as well. This is not good he thought.

"That is bad news Jiraiya, very bad news. I shudder to think of who the other eight members are." 'Now tell me their goal Jiraiya, what are they up to?" Jiraiya looked grim and answered, "They are making plans to catch all the tailed biju and eliminate certain weak villages."

The Sandaime paled at this news. This is definitely not a good thing. Having an evil organization controlling all the tailed demons is not something the ninja villages of the shinobi continent could handle. Even Konoha would fall in such an onslaught.

"I hope there is no more bad news Jiraiya." "No, there is no more news to report; I will be leaving soon to keep tabs on this organization. Are you going to get Naruto back now that there is a major threat?"

The Sandaime thought for a second and replied, "No, I am not. I still feel he is safer there then here. Plus Akatsuki probably has no idea that Naruto is in Suna right now. Let's keep it that way for now." Jiraiya nodded and left the building.

The Sandaime looked down at his paper work, frowned and thought, '_I hope Naruto is happy. He should be protected well there with the Kazekage Yondaime. He's an old friend of mine'_

* * *

Gaara was just waking up from a very long night and much needed sleep. _'Wait a second, I was sleeping? No, not good, I hope Naruto is okay.' _Gaara opened his eyes and found himself on his bed, with no destruction around him. He saw his father looking at him with a smile. His father began to speak, "Jiraiya-dono fixed your seal Gaara-kun. You can now sleep and be awake without the insane urges of the Shukaku. This pleases me greatly." 

Gaara smiled, a true smile, for the first time ever. He started to play with the sand and noticed something. He looked over at his father and asked, "I can still control the sand. Can you train me?" Kazekage replied, "Sure, I can train you. You will be strong my son. It is needed that you are to be strong. You are Suna's pride."

Gaara smiled and followed his father to his office. "Now Gaara-kun, I'm the Kazekage and I can not possibly train you all day. I will assign a sensei for you. His name is Nuroshi Kotestu. He is a jounin and will teach you how to fight using your sand and a defensive form of taijutsu as well."

Gaara watched the brown haired man walking in. He greeted his sensei and followed him to the Training District. '_This is going to be so much fun.' **'This is gonna be fun but I prefer to make sand castles' **_Gaara was surprised that he heard a voice in his head, a demon voice at that. _'Who are you?' **'I'm Shukaku! I love making sand castles! Do you love sand castles?' **_Gaara twitched at the giddy voice inside his head. _'I thought the Shukaku was insane though? You don't sound insane just childish.' **'I am not childish! I just have an absolute love and fetish for sand castles. I still love killing and destroying stuff to. It is almost as fun as making sand castles, but not quite.' **_

Gaara just produced a mental stare and was a bit annoying with the giddy voice in his head. **_'We can talk now because that old pervert fixed your seal. Doing this got rid of that annoying ass priest. I really hated him, he hated sand castles. I'm glad that old guy exorcist him out.' _**Gaara smiled a bit and was a bit happier knowing that he would always have someone to talk to, no matter how odd his fetishes are.

* * *

Naruto had just woken up. Today was the day he was going to ask Kazekage-sama about a taijutsu trainer. He got dressed and ate his daily muffin. Locking the door on his way out, he started to hop the roofs to get to the Kazekage tower. While doing this, he also practicing his hand sealing speed as well as chatting with the Kyuubi. 

'_Oi fuzz ball, what kinda of taijutsu do you think I would be good at?' **'Damn it brat, I don't have fists to use taijutsu, so I have no idea. I hope your teacher is not as odd as the last one.' **'You and I both… wait, you can't use taijutsu? Hahaha that totally freakin sucks for you!' **'Shut up monkey.'**_

Arriving at the Kazekage tower, Naruto walked in the doors and went up the stairs. He asked the secretary if he could see the Kazekage. Once permission was granted he walked into the doors and said, "Kazekage-sama, I am in dire need of a taijutsu trainer. Could you perhaps recommend me one? Better yet assign one to me?"

The Kazekage looked up from his paper work, happy to get a break from doing that. He looked down at Naruto and replied, "Sure, I will get you someone to train you in taijutsu. We only have a handful of taijutsu trainers in the village, but you are special, and like anything special, you get treated like royalty."

Naruto frowned at the blatant favoritism but quickly hid it. He then proceeded to ask, "What is this ninja's name?" "His name is Byrou Emori. He is a master of nearly 20 different taijutsu styles. He specializes in only taijutsu. I will assign him to instruct you for a year. After that you are on your own."

Naruto smiled and waited for the man to come in, as the Kazekage sent someone after him. After around 10 minutes a very tall man walked in, almost lazily and asked, "Where's the gaki that I have to train?" He looked down and noticed the blonde brat.

"Ah, so this is the brat I'm going to train. What is your name kid?" "Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto answered in a fake pleasant voice. "So you have manners eh? That's good. Let's head out to the training fields. It's time to have fun," said Emori-sensei with a pleasant smile on his face.

Jumping across rooftops they finally landed in the Training District. Emori began to speak, "Let us see now, you don't seem like the defensive type, so those styles are out. You are going to get tall it seems, so taijutsus based on short arm length are out." Naruto kept looking at his sensei quizzically, wondering what he was doing.

"Ah, here is the style I will teach you. I am going to teach you a style called Repken. This style is based on speed and strength. It is meant for people with high stamina." Naruto looked giddy at this, and could not wait to get started.

"I do not expect you to master this fast, but this is going to be fun okay? Now do you have weights and do you run laps?" Naruto thought for a moment and replied, "Yes I have weights, around 45 pounds, which is twice my weight. I run around 20 laps a day."

Emori-sensei smiled and said, "Alrighty then, you are going to find this fun. I want you to punch this log 1000 times and then kick it 1000 times, switching between arms and legs. I also want you to run 40 laps after this. Once this is complete, come see me. Go have fun"

Naruto paled and said, "You call that fun?" Emori simply said, "Yes." Naruto fell down from the simplicity of the statement with a sweat drop. He got back up and began to do the _fun _tasks set at hand for him. So Naruto began to punch and kick the log 1000 times, each with each leg or arm. This took him nearly all day, and once complete he was dead tired. While doing this, he played chess with the Kyuubi in his mind, consistently losing to him.

After the 40 laps were complete, he collapsed in front of Emori-sensei. Emori looked up from his bird watching and asked, "You are done? Good. Now it is time to learn the katas for this taijutsu style." Naruto sighed and got up, ready to learn the katas. Emori-sensei went through each kata and explained to him how they worked, and showed him how they worked as well.

Most katas were based off large animals like the bear stance, the tiger stance and the wolf stance. Naruto soaked up this information like a sponge in a pond. At the end of the day, his sensei sent him home, to begin the next day.

The next day Naruto would do the same exercises with Emori-sensei. He would try and spar with him using only taijutsu and lose every time. Even thought he was going easy on the fighting on Naruto. After the training, Emori-sensei would leave to go home calling it a day. Naruto on the other hand would start training ninjutsu with Kyuubi.

'_Alright fuzzy, what ninjutsu am I going to learn today?' **'You will not be learning a new one every day, but luckily today is a new jutsu day. I am going to teach you a Suiton jutsu called Suiton: Mizu Tama**_ (Water Style: Water Bullet). **_This jutsu is basically like the Katon jutsu you know, only its water. Now go ahead and try it out.'_**

Naruto got the hand seals flashed to his mind and he walked over to the pond. He knew he was definitely not good enough to get water out of the air. Perform the correct hand seals, he called out, "Suiton: Mizu Tama."

Nothing came out. Naruto was flabbergasted. _'Why the hell did it not work?' **'That's odd; you should be good at water jutsus since I am in here. Try it again kit.'**_

Naruto tried again and got the same results. No water came out or feeling of chakra. _'This is getting ridiculous. Why can't I do this simple Suiton jutsu?' **'Let me think kit.' **_The Kyuubi pondered for a bit. He did some researching of Naruto's soul and noticed something. **_'Naruto, your natural element is fire. You will be unable to perform water jutsus, while you will be able to perform with ease Katon jutsus. Instead of trying to learn this jutsu, I will teach you a wind jutsu. It is called Fuuton: Hitofuki Tama _**(Wind Element: Gust Bullet). **_This jutsu will fire a compressed air bullet at the enemy, much like the Katon jutsu you already know. Try it out.'_**

Naruto grumbled at not being able to do the Suiton jutsu. He got the hand seals flashed for this jutsu and began sealing. Pulling compressed air into his lungs he blew out using chakra, while aiming at the tree. The ball of wind pushed out of him and caused the tree to lose its bark as well as dig a hole. _'Aaaah man, I want to blast the tree in half.' **'Do not worry kit, when you get as strong as the other flesh bags, you will be able to blast through 10 sets of trees with it. Keep practicing with it as much as you can.'**_

Naruto nodded and began practicing it while running. At the end of the day he went home exhausted and happy.

* * *

Over the year, Naruto had gotten proficient in his taijutsu style, Repken. He was by no means a master, but he could hold his own. He practiced this every day as much as he could. He also got a nice little growth spurt. This caused him to be able to hold a katana now. Emori-sensei was quite proud of him, though he hated to call insane taijutsu fun like his sensei had. 

He and Gaara had become quite good friends. They would be seen sparing with each other as well as talking and chatting. Naruto had learned a few jutsu over the year, bringing his arsenal of jutsus up to 9.

Both Gaara and Naruto joined the Academy this year. Gaara was at the top of class right now, with Naruto playing the sneaky one and going for the middle. He had only put on the act of an average student, when in reality he was as strong as Gaara, if not stronger. Naruto noticed that many clans had their children going to the Academy this year, like the Hyrojuga clan.

Right now our 7 year old boy was heading to the Kazekage tower. He was going to demand a Kenjutsu trainer while he was in the Academy.

On his way to the Kazekage tower, he over heard some interesting rumors. "Did you hear that some clan got eliminated in Konoha?" asked a villager. "Yea, Uchiha's I believe. Killed by one of their own. Left one alive to, poor kid must feel lonely."

Naruto heard that as he was passing by. '_Some rumors, I sure am glad I was not in Konoha during that. Would have been hectic.'_ Naruto finally made it to the Kazekage tower. Feeling a bit of deja-vu, he climbed the stairs again to reach the office. This time around he set up an appointment early, so he did not have to wait for the Kazekage to not be busy.

Walking in the doors, he saw the Kazekage sitting in his chair, waiting for him to come. "Hey Kazekage-sama, I am in need of a kenjutsu trainer. Do you have one that I could use during the academy? Please, I could really use this. After that year of taijutsu training, I've been getting a bit bored."

The Kazekage looked down at Naruto and began to speak, "Yes, I know exactly someone that could help you just fine. He is one of our top ANBU kenjutsu masters. You will refer to him as Silent. Obviously, that is his code name." the second the name was said a tall wolf masked ANBU entered the room. He had two swords on his side, each within easy drawing speeds. He was wearing a completely black cloak. _'Must be hot in there, would hate to have to wear that.'_

The man looked down and Naruto and replied, "Naruto-san, I will be your kenjutsu sensei. You may call me sensei or Silent." Silent threw a wooden sword at Naruto. "We are going to practice using this first. We will be training after your classes at the academy everyday. Follow me."

Naruto followed the man and could not wait to get started. Using a katana is something he has always dreamed of. Mastering the use of it is something that would be well treasured in the shinobi world. Jumping of the wall that separated the districts he finally arrived at the correct training area as his sensei was already there.

"You are going to do 1000 slashes, dabs and strikes at this log." Naruto groaned at having a repeat from taijutsu training. He gripped the sword and began to strike. He was interrupted though when his sensei stopped him and said, "You are holding the sword wrong. Please this is how it is done." Silent showed him the correct grip my readjusting his hands. Naruto was glad that his grip was corrected and began the assignment again. After awhile he eventually completed it. "That is good Naruto. Now it is time to have a duel." "Nani! I don't know any styles yet!" his sensei looked down at Naruto while radiating a bit of killer intent and barked out, "There is no correct style. You will learn your own, create your own!" He seemed to clam down somewhat after he noticed Naruto with a wide eyed scared look on his face. "We will duel until you are able to land a hit on me. Once you are able to land a hit on me, I will reward you greatly," said Silent calmly.

The two shinobi began the duel at very fast speeds. Naruto was glad that he had speed training from taijutsu. Silent grabbed a wooden sword from his belt and began to assault Naruto. In a quick session Naruto was already hit a dozen times and was on the ground in pain.

"That was pathetic Naruto. Get up and do it again!" Naruto complied and got up with his sword and began to assault his sensei. With rapid slashes and strikes he tried to hit his sensei to no avail. He blocked a few hits from his sensei, but was taken down shortly after.

"Again that was pathetic. We will be doing this until you are 20 if you keep up this rate." Naruto grumbled and got back up, deciding to keep his cool. _'Getting angry will not help me here.' _ He thought about waiting for him to attack. When he saw the attack coming he quickly blocked the attack, slid off the block and nearly got his sensei. He forgot that his sensei knew how to dodge though. Naruto went into the assault switching between high and low attacks. His sensei blocked them all, and hit him once in the head, knocking him to the ground.

Naruto determinately got back up and readied his sword. Silent began to swift into an attack with amazing agility. With a sickening strike, he slashed at Naruto only to find it blocked by the wooden blade.

Naruto had turned his blade backwards, along his arm with the sharp edge out to block the blow. Quickly switching it back he caused his sensei to stumble backwards a few steps. This caused for a quick dab into his sensei's gut. Unfortunately he missed as his sensei quickly recovered and back slashed him in the neck effectively knocking him to the ground.

"That is enough for today. We will continue this type of training tomorrow." Naruto nodded and watched as his sensei just simply disappeared from view. Naruto widen his eyes at the lack of smoke and questioned the Kyuubi, _'Am I ever gonna be able to do that?' **'You will be able to do that once your chakra control is at top notch.' **'Hey, is today jutsu day? I would like to learn a jutsu!' **'Hum… let me think on it. Yea I guess today can be jutsu day.'**_

'_Yatta! I can't wait. What jutsu am I gonna learn?' **'I am going to teach you an important doton jutsu that actually works in the sand' **_Naruto listened intently to the lecture._ **'It is called **_**_Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu_****_. This jutsu causes the ninja to be buried underground using his chakra. You can then move freely inside the ground, as if you were outside. Be warned that it takes chakra to travel underground.'_**

Naruto walked over to the sandy part of the training area, since the training area is actually an oasis it has grass. He got flashed the seals in his band and performed them while calling out, "Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu!" He felt himself being sucked underground. He opened his eyes and saw just sand with some dirt, lots of it. After getting used to the feeling of being underground, he ran about 30 feet and came back up using the ram seal.

'_Wow Kyuubi that was awesome. This jutsu is useful sneaking. I will find many uses for this jutsu that is for sure.' **'Well kit, since you learned anther flesh bag jutsu, it is time to go home.'**_ Naruto nodded and went home. After arriving home he went inside and locked the door. After a quick shower he got into his pajamas and crawled into bed, falling into a nice sleep.

* * *

Naruto was sitting in the class room, waiting for the genin teams to be called out. It had been 5 years since he started his kenjutsu training and his sensei had stopped training him since he was 10. He got his first real katana as a gift from Silent. The katana was a black blade with a dark red hilt. It was sheathed in a black sheath, which was connected to his waist for fast drawing. 

He and Gaara had many spars over the years. They would practice new ninjutsu on each other and Naruto would have taijutsu fights against Gaara's shield. Usually losing, Naruto would attempt to break through his shield to actually harm him. Gaara rarely got harmed thanks to the shield.

Naruto had also become quite the battle strategist when he was in fights. He would actually think out plans, carry them out and create counter-attacks when needed. He did not just blindly rush in there or have the Kyuubi help him out in battle.

The Kyuubi had finally taught him to harness his chakra. While using it he would turn into a half-demon like form with red eyes, claws and darkened whisker marks. Naruto had long thrown away the masks, opting to wear just blue cargo pants with a black long sleeve shirt and a dark red vest. His hi-ate was tied to his right arm, proudly showing the Suna symbol. He had a few interesting jutsus he could use while in the Kyuubi form. It was more like a bloodline, as he did not need to call out a jutsu name to use them.

He also learned a variety of jutsus from the Kyuubi. He grew a major liking for using Katon jutsus but he also loved the destruction of Doton jutsus. Genjutsu was a subject that he tried to convince the Kyuubi to learn but once he attempted one, it failed spectacularly. One time, he was trying to cast a genjutsu that would cause people to see their worst nightmare. Unfortunately it ended up backfiring and he saw his own nightmare. After that debacle, he never tried to use genjutsu again.

Naruto brought back his attention on the sensei of this class, Ikasu. "Alright class, you are all no full fledged genin. I am going to announce the teams and your jounin sensei. Please be patient"

"Team 1 consists of Ikasoru Ami…" Ikasu droned on and Naruto decided to tune him out until he heard his name and the names of other important clan members. Eventually he caught a clan member name being called out.

"Team 5 consists of Hyrojuga Kouya, Haryuko Mina and Mitshuro Riku. Your jounin sensei is Taru Hayate. Please go to room 211 to await your sensei after the teams are all picked," said Ikasu in a boorish voice. Naruto glanced at the people of who's names where called. Kouya was from the Hyrojuga clan which uses the Fuikygun taijutsu style. He was a small boy with grey eyes and brown hair that tied back into a pony-tail. His face was fairly roundish, adding to the cuteness that his fan club have adored. Sadly the boy had a very large group of fan girls. He was completely dressed in a beige outfit making him look unnoticed and boring.

Mina was from the Haryuko clan which uses glass jutsus. She had dull white hair that was in a fairly short style. Like everyone from that clan, she had green eyes. She wore the typical Haryuko outfit which was a dark blue mesh shirt over a light yellow short sleeved shirt with black pants. She was a fairly social person and quite good using her family's jutsus.

Riku was a tall boy that came from a non shinobi clan. He had black hair that was short and spiky with brown eyes. This boy was considered to be talented and finished 3rd in the class despite being from a non shinobi family. He wore a deep green top with a dark green cargo pants. Everyone knew that his favorite color was green. He was quite the insane person, loving to train as much as Emori-sensei did.

"Team 6 consists of Jago Kami…" Naruto again tuned out the voice of his sensei.

Eventually he caught the name of his friend Gaara. "Team 8 consists of Soriyu Gaara, Uzumaki Naruto and Namika Yasumi." Naruto flashed his eyes at Gaara happy that he was on his team. He flashed his eyes at the girl he knew to be Yasumi. She was the first ninja coming from her family and was considered dead-last in the ninja academy. Gaara was rookie of the year for this group. He knew that this girl may be a liability if they did not receive a good teacher. Her face was quite oval and a bit shapely, bringing out some cuteness. Sadly she had a small mouth and was teased for it. She had purple hair that was straight going down her face with dark blue eyes. Currently she was wearing a white top with black cargo pants.

"Your jounin sensei is Soraru Genma. Please go to room 215 to meet with your sensei after all the teams are picked." "Team 9…" Naruto again tuned this out but he quickly had to retune his hears back to his sensei.

"Team 10 consists of Kikorusi Taku, Raizuka Neko and Shikyrou Meji. Your jounin sensei is Baruni Susume. Please go to room 216 to meet with your sensei after all the teams are picked."

Taku was a medium built boy from the temperature control clan. He had light brown hair that spiked up in literally all directions with a medium length. He had hazel eyes, which curved into an oval, rather than a circle. He was a master with his family's jutsus and was quite good with using wind ninjutsu, as far as Naruto knew. Taku was the silent type, only talking when needed.

Neko was a short girl from the Raizuka clan. She had dark red hair that seemed to go everywhere with blue eyes shaped like a cat. Her ears were slightly pointy to show that her hearing was superb. She wore a very dark purple hooded sweatshirt with black pants. She had a very rambunctious personality and was easily the most social able of them all. She was also a bit mean though as well as cocky.

Meji was from the mirage jutsu clan. He had long black hair with piercing black eyes. He was very proficient with using his family's jutsus as well as other jutsus. He wore a black mesh shirt with white shorts. He had his clan symbol which was a hazy tree on the back of his green over shirt. He was also considered the genius of the class but was physically weak. He was very lazy when it came to physical work.

"Well class, those are all the teams. Please go to your rooms now and wait for your team," said Ikasu-sensei.

Naruto and Gaara both grinned at each other and walked out the door with a Yasumi straggling behind. All three of them entered room 215 and only had to wait 2 minutes before their sensei arrived. Soraru Genma was dressed in the traditional jounin vest with dark red cargo pants. He had a black shirt under the vest. His hair was a dull grey color that seemed to spike up in literally every direction. His hi-ate was tied to his forehead worn in the traditional way.

"Yo. I am your sensei Soraru Genma. You may call me Genma-sensei. Please follow me to the roof of the academy so we can introduce each other." The three genin followed their sensei to the top of the academy and waited for him to speak.

"Alright kids, I would like to hear your name, hobbies, likes and dislikes as well as your dream. I am going to start with you blondie," He said while pointing at Naruto, nearly touching him.

Naruto grinned and said, "My name is not blondie, it is Uzumaki Naruto. My hobby is to train and spar with my friend Gaara. I like to practice my kenjutsu style and watch the sunset in the middle of the desert. My dislikes are people that hate others for no reason and arrogant assholes. My dream is to eventually lead this village in all its glory."

Genma nodded and thought to himself, _'Good goal he has. He also seems to be motivated and not as dumb as the academy says so.'_

"Alrighty then, you're up next panda boy," Genma said while pointing at Gaara. Gaara glared at his sensei and said, "My name is Soriyu Gaara. My hobbies are none of your business and my likes are training and sparing with my friend Naruto as well as this village. My dislikes are just people who act like assholes. My dream is also none of your business

Genma stared at the kid as if he was insane for having that goal and thought to him self, _'Wish he told me his goal, glad he doesn't hate his village either. After his uncle tried to kill him I thought he was going to become insane.'_

"Now then, you are next, the one with the purple hair," Genma-sensei said while pointing to Yasumi. Yasumi looked at him with a small smile and said, "My name is Namika Yasumi. My hobbies include gardening and training. I like to gossip with my friends and train as well. My dislikes are boys who think they are all that and I hate my rival, Riku! My dream is to become a good ninja so my family can get out of poverty."

Naruto looked at the girl for having a nice dream, but Genma looked at her for a different reason. _'I know the reasons behind her goal. Her mother is all she has left and she is sick. I wouldn't be surprised if she wants to become a medic-nin once she realizes they exist. Wonder why she hates that kid though.'_

Genma smiled and said "All of you are unique individuals. Now that we know each other, I am going to tell you about the survival training that you need to well survive to become my genin team. Let me tell you that I have never passed a genin team in my life."

All three genin started at him with shocked looks on their faces. Yasumi then asked, "Ano, sensei? What is this survival training going to be made up of?"

Genma smiled at her and said, "Report to Training Area 8 at 6 in the morning. Better eat breakfast, otherwise you will starve. I will explain your exam then. Later for now." Genma puffed away and left three shocked genin. One by one the three genin left to their respective homes, thinking about what tomorrow may bring.

* * *

Naruto woke up at 5 in the morning. He decided to start packing his bag. Walking over to his bag he struck up a conversation with the Kyuubi. _'Hey fuzzy, what should I bring with me to this survival exam. Should I bring food? Water? Clothing?' _The Kyuubi thought for a moment and replied back, **_'Well kid, I suggest you start sealing up some food, water and clothing. You never know what a survival exam may entail.'_**

Naruto agreed and grabbed some scrolls. Walking into the kitchen, he took a muffin and started to munch on it. While doing this he crated some muffins, instant ramen, fruits and vegetables into a single crate. He labeled that scroll food.

Taking a jug from the cupboard, he filled it with water and sealed into the scroll labeled water. He walked back into his bedroom and packed about two outfits into another crate and sealed that into the scroll that was labeled clothing.

Naruto took a shower after packing and got dressed. He walked out the door and locked it. Hopping onto the roofs and he asked the Kyuubi to increase his weight some and back to jump as fast as he could to Training Area 8.

* * *

In another part of town, Gaara had woken up in his family's home. His father was already at work while his brother and sister were still sleeping. Gaara packing only light, basic shinobi gear, some food and a canteen of water. He took a quick shower and got dress. 

Deciding to chat with the Shukaku, Gaara began to speak, _'Hey Shukaku, What do you think this survival exam is going to be made up of?' **'It won't have sand castles sadly. I love sand castles. They are the best things ever. Hopefully we are in the desert; you can help me make sand castles then!'**_

Gaara abruptly blocked his thoughts from the Shukaku but realized he had a point. _'We may be stuck into the desert. I will pack a little more water. I am starting to hate sand castles though, damn demon talks about them nonstop.'_

* * *

Yasumi had gotten home to her mother already asleep. When Yasumi woke up she noticed that her mother was awake and decided to tell her the good news. 

"Mother look, I have become a shinobi," she said pointing to her hi-ate on her head. "I have finally graduated. I will make you proud mother. I will find a way to help you get better and bring our family out of poverty." Her mother looked up at her and told her in a weak voice, "That's good Yasumi. You do your mother proud. There's no reason to worry over me. Go get ready for your _cough _exam."

Yasumi looked on sadly at her mother and did what she was told. She muttered under her breath, I will not stop worrying over you mama. I will find a cure for your disease."

Yasumi toke a quick shower and got dressed. She took only shinobi gear and left to go beat with her sensei via walking. She was thinking about her two teammates, Gaara and Naruto. She knew that they were friends and Gaara was rookie of the year, considered a prodigy.

Naruto on the other hand was enigma to her. He seemed so mysterious every year because he did average on everything. Literally everything. It confused her because she had seen him spar with Gaara and was actually able to hit him! The spar stopped suddenly though and they left, while looking directly at her. She shuddered when she remembered that.

She also thought about the survival exam that her sensei had talked about. She put on one big grin thinking about her sensei; it was nice to have one finally. _'I hope this exam is easy. I hope I don't fail. I don't wanna go back to the academy. I need to help my mother and become strong.'_

She started to run as fast as she could to training area 8. She was pretty fast to as she had taken to running recently in the last year to help training.

* * *

At training Area 8, Genma was waiting for his students to show up. He knew that his team was talented this year and hope they would pass his hella hard exam. The first person to show up was Naruto. Gaara showed up only minute later and 10 minutes later Yasumi finally showed up. He checked his watch and noticed all three were on time. 

"Alright kids, I want you tie yourselves together with each other with this rope. I also want you blind fold yourself." He handed them the ropes and blind folds and watched them put them on. Naruto began to ask, "Sensei why do we need to do this? What are we going to do?"

"Well Naruto, I will hold the end of the rope. I want you guys to follow me when you feel a tug." Genma began to run at a slow pace for a jounin so that his genin could keep up. He led them out of the village and into the desert, and off the path.

Naruto felt the wind wheeze by him and felt the sand under his feet. He knew that they were going out into the desert and was thankful that he brought water and other things. Gaara felt the desert under his feet and felt the Shukaku get happy at the feel of the desert, that and he kept screaming sand castles in his mind. He was thankful that he brought some food and water. He hopped that his teammates had thought of the same thing.

Yasumi on the other hand felt scared. She could feel the desert under her feet and was panting slightly. She was astonished at the speed Naruto, Gaara and her sensei could travel at. She really wished she had brought food and water with her. She only hoped that her teammates had done what she did not.

He picked up the pace and made sure he wasn't dragging his genin. He ran up to a canyon in the desert and ran up a mesa using chakra.

He was going up so fast that the genins did not even feel the tug from going up. Once up he took off the blind folds and unbounded them from the ropes. The 3 genin looked around and looked at their sensei with bewildered looks.

Yasumi asked her sensei in a panicky voice saying, "Why are we in the middle of no where sensei!" Genma chuckled and answered, "This is your test. You are to get back to Sunagakure in 7 seven days. I wish you luck, bye bye now." The 3 genin watched as their sensei puffed away. Sweat dropping at the sudden disappearance of their sensei, they set down on the mesa and Naruto asked his team, "What now?"

Gaara answered, as he was considered the smartest of their age, "Well first we get down from this big hunk of rock. We have no idea which way to go either so we will have to figure this out. Now we must walk down this mesa so we can get to the sandy desert." Both Naruto and Gaara walked over to the ledge but they noticed that their team-mate did not walk with them.

Naruto then asked, "Uh, Yasumi, why are you not coming?" Yasumi looked embarrassed and said, "I don't know how to walk down walls. Can you teach me?" Naruto and Gaara just stared at her until Gaara said, "Sure. Now you need force chakra to your feet, while balancing it out so you don't smash the rock. To little you fall off, to much and you smash the rock and fall off."

Yasumi nodded and turned around to walk up the rock. She made it about half way up before she fell and landed on her feet. She got determined again and ran at the rock running all the way up to the top on her second try. "Hey guys! I did it! Yay!"

Both Naruto and Gaara were a bit shocked that she was able to do it so fast. Naruto thought to himself that she may have had little chakra or something. They would know after a while. "Good job Yasumi. Come on down so that we can get off this hunk of rock," yelled Naruto.

Yasumi ran back down joined her teammates. All three of them went to the ledge and ran down the cliff using chakra. Once at the bottom the three genin set around a little circle and began to discuss on how to proceed. Naruto had noticed that Yasumi was panting somewhat and came to the conclusion that she had low chakra reserves.

"Does anyone know which direction the sea is from here?" asked Naruto. Yasumi answered no to the question but Gaara gave it some thought. "When I was training I came out to this spot before to work on sand control. I know for a fact that the sea is to the west of us. Let's head that direction."

Both Naruto and Yasumi agreed and all three of them spirited to the west. Around the evening sun the 3 of them managed to reach the sea. "Thank god we found the sea. I would have really hated to be lost in the freakin desert," sighed out Yasumi. Both Naruto and Gaara agreed with her.

They followed the cost line for a while until around sunset. Deciding to set up camp the three of them built a small fire and began to cook the instant ramen that Naruto had brought. Yasumi was very glad that her teammate had the forethought to bring food with him. While munching on their food, the three of them began to talk about guard duty.

"Alright Yasumi you will take the first round. At 11 wake up Gaara and have him watch the camp. At 2 am please wake me up Gaara and I will finish up the round and wake all you up at 6 to get a move on. Agreed?" asked Naruto. Both Gaara and Yasumi agreed with him. Naruto and Gaara got into their sleeping bags to avoid the cold desert night and left Yasumi to guard.

While they were sleeping, Yasumi was thinking about the fact that she seemed useless to her team. She didn't even know wall walking yet. She vowed to herself to learn some jutsus from her teammates and even her sensei. She would vow to herself to get the library. _'I won't be useless anymore I hate being useless.' _

She watched a little scorpion go by and she pierced it with her kunai. After a while playing with the little scorpions she noticed it was 11 pm and woke up Gaara. Once Gaara was awake she went into her own purple sleeping bag and fell asleep.

Gaara just sat there for the 3 hours and stared watching carefully. He was also being annoyed in his head by Shukaku about making sand castles to pass the time. He learned to block this out luckily enough. Soon enough it was time to wake up Naruto and get back to sleep.

Naruto on guard duty was exciting for him. He would practice his taijutsu katas while watching out for things. After around an hour he started to notice a good number of little scorpions running by. Within 20 minutes he understood why.

About a mile in front of him and moving at high speeds, 3 giant scorpions were moving in towards them. Naruto widen his eyes and screamed, "Get your asses up, we have company!"

Both Yasumi and Gaara jumped up out of their sleeping bags with kunai in hands. They stared at what Naruto saw and Gaara shivered a bit at the size of those monster scorpions. Yasumi just yelled out, "Holy shit, those things are huge!" Gaara and Naruto rolled their eyes at the obvious that she had pointed out.

Gaara began to get prepared by getting sand under his control, read to defend and strike at will. Yasumi was visibly scared. She had no jutsus and she knew it. She pulled out a kunai and hopped that it would be enough.

In what seemed like minutes the scorpions were upon them. Naruto ran to the side attracted one scorpion while running he formed some hand seals and turned around calling out, "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" Around a dozen fireballs were spitted at the scorpion. The scorpion dodged like a pro and began to arm its stinger.

Within a flash Naruto used Shunshin no jutsu and drew his sword chopping off the tail of the scorpion. The scorpion let out a wild wail and charged at Naruto with its stingers in place. Quickly jetting to the side, Naruto formed the seals for a high power jutsu and called out, 'Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" A giant fireball was hurled at the scorpion. It had no time because as soon it turned around, it got roosted by Narutos big fireball.

Gaara had an easier time with his scorpion. He ran to the north at high speeds and started to clamp his hands at the scorpion while saying, "Sabaku SouSou." Every time he clamped his hands down sand would rush at the enemy and cling to it. Eventually he caught the scorpion in his sand.

With a sadistic grin he watched in glee as he clamped his hand down as the scorpion screamed in agony as it was squeezed from the jutsu. Blood and scorpion parts shattered everywhere as the scorpion was crushed.

Yasumi on the other hand was have a hard time. She was trying to throw kunai at the eyes while dodging and was having a hard time doing so. She was already nipped in the leg by the claw of the scorpion and was bleeding badly at the leg. Luckily for her, Naruto had come over to assist her.

"Yasumi, I want you to throw as many kunai as you can at its face. While doing this I will go in for the kill." Yasumi nodded and started doing what she said. She hurled kunai at the scorpion with all her might. She actually managed to lodge one in its eye and watched as the blood gushed out.

Yasumi widen her eyes though as she saw a flash of someone and Naruto was in front of her with a grin on his face and his katana was out. When she looked back at the scorpion, she watched in amazement as the scorpion fell apart in two pieces. "You did that? Wow amazing? How?" Naruto grinned and said, 'Well I just cut it in half with my katana going as fast as I could."

Yasumi squealed in delight and quickly hugged Naruto as fast as she could. This caused him to blush and when she noticed him blush, she blushed as well. Naruto looked at her bloody leg and said, "Here let me rap your leg up." He proceeded to apply tape to her scratched up leg but she blushed while he did it. _'Why am I blushing? I do not like him!'_ Gaara walked over to the two blushing and shook his head at the stupid displays of romantic affection.

Once they were done, Naruto said, "Let's head back to Sunagakure and pass this test." Naruto and Yasumi nodded and ran as fast as they could with Gaara. After around tow hours of running they finally met with the wall of the village. Running along side they met up with the gate in 10 minutes.

Walking in the gate, all three we're glad that they made it. They heard a clapping sound behind them and turned around. Standing there was their sensei clapping with a grin on his face.

"Yo. I was watching you guys out there, you did a good job and performed good teamwork to survive this exam. Congratulations. You all pass!"

Naruto got a big grin on his face and gave Genma-sensei the thumbs up. Gaara got a small smirk on his face and looked up at the sky. Yasumi got teary eyes from being so happy and screamed, "Yatta!"

"Now, report to Training Area 8 tomorrow for some training and your first D ranked mission. I hope you guys get a good nights' sleep. Dismissed!"

* * *

**A/N: **Well that was chapter 3. I hope you guys enjoyed it, I had fun writing it. I decided to change the main pairing to Naruto/Tenten. I am sorry for doing this but if I tried to write Kin with Naruto, it would feel forced. Also the pairing for Gaara is going to be Gaara/OC. The plot is just getting interesting and it will start to evolve more soon. Never fear about this major OC that I have introduced, she won't be Naruto's love interest. That is reserved for Tenten. 

Until the next chapter, ja ne!

* * *

Naruto knows these Jutsus:

**The 3 Academy Jutsus**

**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu**

**Ninpou: Kajou Chouin (Item Sealing)**

**Katon: Housenka no Jutsu**

**Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu**

**Fuuton: Hitofuki Tama**** (Gust Bullet)**

**9 Unknown Jutsus, yet to be revealed ****  
**


	4. Teamwork

Destiny of a Shinobi

By: Lord Myst

Chapter 4

Teamwork

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; I only own any original characters

* * *

**A/N:** Enjoy the chapter, I had fun writing it. Update 2: I just editted a few things that were bugging me, needed to reload it.

* * *

Naruto was a happy person. He had just gotten his team photo taken and it was currently placed in the picture frame on his nightstand. Genma was standing in the back with a big grin on his face. He had put his hand on Gaara and ruffled his hair. Gaara looked fairly annoyed and just a small twitch of the lips to show any emotion. He had his arms crossed across his chest. 

Yasumi was on the right side of the photo, with a small shy smile. She had her finger pointing at her headband though, showing she was proud that she had become a shinobi. In the middle of the photo was himself. He had as wide as grin as sensei had. He was giving the camera a thumb up sign to it.

Naruto smiled to himself while looking at the picture. His first group of real friends. While in Konoha, he had no friends. Everyone hated him. He never really understood why until that day, his birthday at age 6. A few tears fell onto the bed that he was sitting on.

In Suna, he had only made one friend, Gaara. The people here hated and feared Gaara, thus they hated him for being near him. Ninja did not hate him as ninja were a lot more sensible than that of the villagers.

Naruto put on a brief smile, before falling into a deep sleep, dreaming about tomorrow and his new carrier as a shinobi.

* * *

Early in the morning, Naruto had wandered over to training area 8. He wanted to be early. Naruto jumped up a tree in the oddly green training area. He always wondered why there was an oasis this close to the sea. 

Naruto waited for about 5 minutes before his first teammate showed up. Yasumi was walking down the road, humming some sort of a tune to her self. '_Completely oblivious to her surroundings is a not a good thing' _thought Naruto. _**'Oblivious things are so much easier to kill, but much less fun.' **'Do you enjoy killing fuzzy?' **'No shit. It's the best thing in the world. Killing is like sex, only better!' **_Naruto immediately tuned out the fox, not wanting to hear about the fox's sexual encounters.

Naruto jumped down from the tree to greet Yasumi. What this actually caused was Yasumi shrieking at Naruto's sudden appearance. Naruto just started at her with a look that clearly read: _Are you a ninja or not?_

Yasumi yelled at Naruto, "Why the hell did you scare me like that! That was mean!" This just caused Naruto to sweat drop and say, "You are a ninja. Surprises should not scare you. Be prepared for anything."

Yasumi looked at him kinda funny, as if Naruto was the odd one for being so paranoid. Naruto walked away, waiting for Gaara to show up. He hoped he could spar him today. He was getting sick and tired of getting his ass handed to him by Gaara.

Right when he thought this, Gaara had shown up. Gaara had teleported in using sand, making it swirl all around him. "Oi Gaara, how come you can do that cool jutsu and I can't?" asked Naruto. Gaara looked straight at Naruto and said, "You're not sandy enough." Naruto just got a confused on his face. This only lasted for second though, because a dozen kunai had been thrown at him and his teammates.

Naruto had brought out his sword and deflected all of the kunai. He silently waited for the next sign of danger while eying his teammates. Gaara had just simply stood there like an idiot that some would say, but sand had automatically been summoned up and blocked the kunai in their projected paths.

Yasumi on the other hand was having some trouble. She pulled out a kunai, ready to try and deflect them when Gaara had burst his sand ahead and blocked the kunai for her. She turned around and looked at the stone faced kid and listen as he said, "What are teammates for?" Yasumi smiled slightly at him.

Naruto sighed in relief that Gaara had blocked thus kunai for her. She was not skilled enough to attempt to block them her own. Naruto turned around and looked at the tree. He spoke to the tree and said, "Genma-sensei, come on out. I know your there."

At this, Genma jumped out of the tree and landed in front of his sensei. He looked down at his team and said, "Good job with the teamwork Gaara. Always depend on your teammates. Remember, teammates first, then the mission. Always put the safety of your teammates before the success of the mission."

Once the three genin soaked this up he then spoke again, "Now its time to have some fun! We are going to learn a new jutsu today. Everybody loves new jutsus, don't they?" Naruto grinned at him, eager to learn another jutsu. Gaara just smirked at sensei, while Yasumi shrieked at finally learning something useful.

"Alright kids, the jutsu is called Suna Bunshin no Jutsu. This jutsu creates clones of the caster of the jutsu from sand. This clone is capable of attacking. However, when it is attacked and hit, it doesn't disappear. This makes it one of the most powerful and advanced types of the Bunshin. But it's useless as a decoy because it takes on the appearance and color of sand," he explained to the genin.

Gaara just looked at the man for a second and simply said, "Suna Bunshin no Jutsu" while raising his hand into a seal. This caused around ten sand clones to appear around Gaara and they just stared at Genma.

Genma was startled that he had gotten this jutsu so fast. He didn't even use the proper hand seals. "Hey kid, how did you do that jutsu without the proper hand seals?" Gaara continued to look at him and said, "I don't need the proper hand seals to do any jutsu that requires sand." Genma just started at him, he had never heard of that before.

Slightly coughing at the hard jutsu being mastered so quickly, he turned and looked at Naruto and Yasumi. "Alrighty then, the hand seals for this are simply ram, monkey and snake. Please attempt the jutsu."

Yasumi went through the hand seals and called out, "Suna Bunshin no Jutsu." This caused for a single clone to materialize in front of her. "YAY! I did it! I did a new jutsu!"

Genma looked over at her and said, "What the hell? Only one clone? Do you do any chakra training exercises?" Yasumi looked ashamed at this. "We will address this later."

Genma looked over at Naruto and wondered why he did not have a clone. Naruto did the seals and called out, "Suna Bunshin no Jutsu." Nothing happened. "God damn it! Why is this awesome jutsu not working!" _**'Hey kid, you can't do sand jutsus either. I should have told you this earlier. But since Shukaku over there is the sand nut, it made me unable to do anything sand related. That has sadly transferred to you.' **'Damn it, this is not cool. Bah. Does he have any weaknesses like this?' **'Yeah, the fat ass raccoon can't perform fire jutsus, water jutsu or earth jutsus. He's stuck doing the other, wimpy ones. Since I have the cool jutsus.'**_

Naruto just sweat dropped at the Kyuubi's insane ego. Naruto looked over at his sensei and said, "Err, sensei I am unable to do sand jutsus. Could you perhaps give me another Bunshin jutsu for me to do?" Genma looked at him kinda funny, wondering why in the seven's hells that he could not do sand jutsus sand said, "Uh… sure kid. How about the Mizu Bunshin…" "No not that one!"

Genma sweat dropped when he got interrupted. He thought for a second and came up with the perfect clone jutsu for him. "Alright kid, I got the most useful Bunshin for someone like you. You seem to favor the using a sword and using ninjutsu. So I am going to give you one of Suna's Kinjutsu." Naruto widen his eyes at the thought of getting a forbidden jutsu.

"The reason that this jutsu is forbidden is because the amount of chakra needed to make them are way too much for even the average jounin. You are lucky that your chakra reserves are basically Kage level. I am going to write it down on a scroll for you," said Genma. Genma toke out a scroll and began scratching on it. After 20 seconds he handed it over to Naruto.

Naruto eagerly opened it up and read, "_Kaze Bunshin no Jutsu_ (Wind Clone Technique)_. This jutsus creates a clone that is literally made out of air. This causes the clone to be around twenty-five percent faster than a shadow clone from Konoha, but half as strong. They take a lot of chakra to create because it requires the user to compress air inside a body. Once the Bunshin is hit, the clone will vanish. The seals for this jutsu are monkey, ram and dog."_

Naruto burned the scroll right away with a small fire jutsu and said, "Kaze Bunshin no Jutsu." A massive spike of chakra blasted around the area and around 30 clones were all around Naruto. Naruto grinned from ear to ear and made 5 of his clones get into hiding positions while the other clones ran circles around their sensei.

Genma had turned around to talk with Yasumi and Gaara when he noticed a crap load of blurs circling him. He turned around and looked at Naruto saying, "Well done kid. Now dispel these clones, its time to learn about all of your individual training routines."

Naruto dispelled the clones running circles around his sensei. He walked over to his teammates and sat down with them, around a circle.

"Alright kids, I think its time to understand what you guys do for training." Genma-sensei looked over at Gaara and said, "Now Gaara, tell me, what do you do for your training?"

Gaara looked thoughtful and said, "I go to my father to find a ninja who is not busy to throw weapons at me. I then block them with my sand. I go out in the desert and increase my speed on using sand as my offense and defense. As for genjutsu and taijutsu, I do not use them. If someone can break through my shield, I use my impressive speed that I have trained running many laps around the city. I do not have many jutsus though."

Genma looked thoughtful and said, "Well then, I will give you a scroll with a few jutsus for you to master in a couple of minutes. Also Gaara, try and have some fun with your teammates to. Fun is important." Gaara nodded and caught the scroll that his sensei threw at him. He then asked, "What is fun?" All three ninja sweat dropped. "Just be with your friends Gaara that is fun," said Genma.

"Now Naruto, what do you do?" asked Genma-sensei. Naruto looked his sensei and said, "I wake up and practice my taijutsu and its katas as well as my kenjutsu. After this I run laps on the wall of the village. I have no idea how many laps I run. After this I go to a training area and maybe learn a new jutsu. If not, I just practice and perfect my old ones. Once this is done I go into the village and have some fun with the locals. Eating food and just chatting with others at the non-alcoholic tavern."

"Good Naruto, I am going to give you a scroll on chakra control and a single new jutsu. I see that you have a hard time with chakra control. As with the 30 clones that you created with that new jutsu." At seeing the quizzical look on his student's face and replied, "Yes I saw the 5 bunshins you have hidden in the surrounded area to spy. Good idea, just work on your hiding skills," replied Genma. Naruto had the decency to blush.

"Now Yasumi, what do you do to train?" Yasumi looked a bit startled at the fact that her two teammates trained like nutters. She looked at her sensei and said, "Well I just run in the mornings and work on my hand sealing speed. Other than that, nothing." Genma sweat dropped at this.

"Well Yasumi, since I gave the other two scrolls I am going to teach you personally." Both Naruto and Gaara glared at their sensei for the obvious favoritism going on. Genma noticed the looks and said, "Look she is way behind you guys. That is why I need to train her personally. Okay?" Both Naruto and Gaara accepted this reason. "Also you guys, double your training routines. I know you two are using weights. Double everything up." Naruto just give him a complete wide eyed stare while Gaara released a bit of killer intent to show his annoyance.

"Is there anything in particular that you want to learn Yasumi?" asked Genma. Yasumi looked thoughtful for a moment and answered, "Well It would be cool to fight with a weapon that is different from Naruto. Using puppets might be cool, and well I have always had a thing for water jutsus."

Genma shivered internally at the thought of having her learn how to fight with puppets. "Well then, I have an idea on what weapon to teach you. My good friend uses this weapon and it's a Suna specialty. As for puppets, I only know the basics which I can teach you. Never rely on puppets totally. As for water jutsus, later today I shall teach you one or two." Genma paused for a moment to let her take it all in. He then began to speak again, "Is this okay?"

Yasumi looked happy at finally learning something and said quite loudly, "YES! I would love that! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Genma smiled and told his team, "We will get a mission soon, until tomorrow. Team dismissed! Yasumi stay behind." Yasumi and Genma watched both Naruto and Gaara running away to the east side of the village.

"Now, it is time to train young one."

* * *

Gaara had gone to the western gate carrying the scroll that Genma-sensei had given him. Approaching the gate, he pulled out his pass to leave Sunagakure when ever he felt like training. He showed his pass to the guards and took off on full blast to find his training spot. 

While running, he had a talk with the Shukaku. _'Shukaku, when will I be able to use your chakra?' **'Never! Hehe. You get my sand controlling power. You can only get my eyes when pissed off. My eyes don't do anything except scare people. Now that I gave you this information, build me a sand castle! Or I will take away my sand powers!'**_

Gaara widen his eyes slightly. Once arriving at his training spot, this consisted of a large canyon with a scorpion nest inside. He usually trained right above it. He sat on the sand and actually built a small sand castle, in fear of losing his fighting ability. Inside his mind, the Shukaku laughed with glee and mirth.

Once Gaara was done with that embarrassing moment, he opened up the scroll and proceeded to read it.

_Gaara, these jutsus are for you:_

_Suna no Yoroi (Armor of Sand): This jutsu creates a thin layer of hard, protective sand that encloses around the entire body with the use of chakra. This technique uses up a lot of chakra. This sand armor can be shattered though. The hand seals for this are not needed, as it is activated by chakra manipulation._

_I figured this would be a good jutsu to start with Gaara because of your tenant. He would be able to supply the constant chakra flow to the sand to help keep it up._

Gaara slightly smiled at his sensei's remark and read the next jutsu.

_Suna Shuriken: This jutsu creates shuriken made of sand and fires at the enemy. The hand seals for this jutsu are Ox, Snake and Ram._

_You should like this jutsus Gaara; it's not even a jutsu I could use. It requires sand control like of the variety that you have. Have fun learning these techniques._

Gaara smirked to himself and pointed his hands down. Calling up the sand he started to focus it around his body. Once the required amount was there, he called out, "Suna no Yoroi!" This caused the Sand to immediately tighten around him and take his appearance. The two vulnerable spots were his eyes and mouth.

Gaara opened his eyes and began to walk around, to get used to this armor. _'This… feels weird. I can feel the sand on me. I hope I get used to it soon, it freakin itches!' **'Quit complaining and go make more sand castles!' **'Shut up, Shukaku, SHUT UP!' **'Humph, fine!'**_

After around twenty minutes of walking and running around, he got used to armor of sand. Walking back over to the canyon, he jumped down the side of wall and went to the bottom. What this caused was hundreds of scorpions to charge out to find the thing that disturbed their home.

Finding Gaara, they charged at them with oddly fast speed. Gaara just stood there. He raised his arm and said, "Suna Shuriken!" Around a dozen shuriken formed charged at the enemy. Gaara watched in interest as a couple dozen scorpions were cut in various places, causing instant death to the scorpions.

Gaara smirked in success that he had managed to complete this jutsu so fast. Gaara eyed the scorpions charged in at blinding speeds. He waved his hands around in circles and brought sand up to protect him. _'I really need to find something to carry sand with me to attack, luckily the shield is automatic. It summons sand.'_

The scorpions charged into to attack but the only thing they met was sand automatically protection them. Gaara looked thoughtful and actually started doing hand seals. Once this was complete, he called out, "Suna Shigure (Sand Drizzle)." This caused sand to rain from the sky and dropping itself on the hard rock of the canyon, covering it with sand.

Again, Gaara went through another large set of hand seals and called out, "Ryusa Bakuryu (Quicksand in the Style of a Waterfall)." This caused a humongous wave of sand to wash over all the scorpions, drowning them beneath it. Gaara knew that they would get out though; they are not desert creatures for nothing.

Jumping up the canyon with amazing height, he landed on his feet and took a speedy sprint back towards Sunagakure. It only took him 20 minutes to return back. Once near his home, he went inside and saw his sister eating dinner. "Temari, Welcome home. How was your mission?" Temari looked over at her little brother saying, "Well little bro, it was a blast! I got to use my awesome fan to blow the enemies away that tried to attack the caravan I was guarding." Gaara just stared at his sister, slightly twitching at her obsession over fans.

"That's good Temari, I am going to bed, and have a nice day." He walked towards his room and looked back at his sister, "Please greet Kankuro for me if he comes back from his first mission as a chuunin. Cocky bastard probably has something to brag about." His sister nodded with a slight smirk and then watched him walk into his room.

* * *

Naruto had made a mad dash for the nearest training area. He sat down on a log near by and opened up his scroll. To his dismay, he only found one jutsu listed there. 

_Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique): This jutsu creates a powerful technique which will surround the user by flames. Out of those flames comes a very powerful beam of fire. The hand seals for this just are ox, ram, snake, monkey, and tiger._

_I hope you have fun learning this jutsu Naruto. It is an A rank jutsu that is extremely difficult to learn but quite powerful._

Naruto smiled at what his sensei wrote. He quickly read the other stuff about chakra control and decided to practice this at a different time. Naruto began to practice the jutsu he just read about over the pond. Forming the correct hand seals at a fast pace, he called out, "Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu!" To his dismay, only a tiny bit of fire blasted out from his mouth. **_'HAHA! Kid that was really pathetic. You can to better than that. Every time you mess up, I will increase the weight on you by 5 pounds. Have fun!' _**The Kyuubi went cackling back into his the depths of Naruto's mind while Naruto had a very sacred look on his face.

Naruto attempted to do the jutsu again, only to fail. He felt more weight being added. _'Kuso, this is not good! I must complete this jutsu. I WILL complete this jutsu!'_

Forming the hand seals again, he forced so much chakra into his mouth that it backfired and burned his mouth. Naruto was shocked for a second, realized the pain and screamed, "HOLY SHIT! THAT HURTS!" Inside his mind, he could hear the Kyuubi roaring with laughter. _'Shut up fuzz ball and heal me damn it!'_

The Kyuubi grudgingly complied and healed Naruto's burnt mouth. Naruto sighed in relief at having his mouth fixed and tried the jutsu for the fourth time. Focusing his chakra in his mouth and keeping under control, he called out, "Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu!"

In front of Naruto, a giant blast of fire zoomed out over the pond and literally evaporated the whole thing. Naruto just stared there in shock at the power of this jutsu. _'Wow, this jutsu owns, but what should I do about the now none existent pond? I can't use any Suiton jutsu.' **'Just leave it kit; I am sure someone will fill it back up.'**_

Naruto internally nodded to himself and decided that today was enough training and went home. On his way home he saw a boy who was a bit shorter than him stumbling around the village. Recognizing him as the Hyrojuga boy, he went over and asked, "Hey kid, are you alright?"

Kouya was a bit shocked that someone spoke to him and stuttered out, "sure… I'm fine, I'm going home… see ya later."

Naruto just watched on quizzically as the boy stumbled home, battered and bruised.

* * *

Yasumi and Genma had traveled to the Living District part of Sunagakure. She was amazed at the quality of these houses and could not wait to move out of poverty. They arrived at some sort of building and Genma-sensei had knocked on the door. She watched the door get opened at noticed an older guy answer the door. 

"Genma, What are you doing here? It has been a while, hasn't it?" asked the old man. "Yes it has Hikaru-sensei. I need you to help train this new student of mine in your weapon specialty. Is this okay?" The man known as Hikaru nodded and said, "Your first set of students eh?" Genma nodded.

Hikaru looked down at the girl and said, "What is your name young one?" Yasumi looked a bit startled that she was spoken to. She quickly answered, "Yasumi." Getting brave quickly, she asked, "What kinda weapon do you use Hikaru-san?"

Hikaru chuckled at the girls question and answer, "I use and mastered the style of using the naginata. Come child, we shall go out back into my yard and train. Genma, you can return for her after dinner. Bring her hear every morning before you guys do team training."

Genma nodded and watch the two go inside his old sensei's house.

Yasumi and Hikaru went into the backyard. In the backyard she saw racks of weapons with large poles with a curved blade at the end. She figured that these weapons were naginatas.

"Now Yasumi, we are first going to practice with wooden naginatas. To wield these weapons, you need to place one hand near the hand and another near the top. You can do jabs and slashes with them. You can also do powerful spin attacks. Watch and learn."

Yasumi nodded and watch Hikaru pick up a wooden naginata. He swirled it around his hands while doing quick and fats jabs with it. He also made many slashes and uppercuts with the weapon. Yasumi was in awe at the weapons power and she showed it with her eyes widening and jaw dropping.

Once Hikaru was done he tossed Yasumi a wooden naginata. "The best way to learn is to literally fight. Your goal is hit me once. I will give you a real naginata until you can hit me. Ready? Begin!"

Hikaru charged at Yasumi and she tired to block the weapon, but failed. She got whacked in the face and fell to the ground. "Get up girl and try again." Determined to hit him she got up and attacked. Doing quick jabs she attempted to hit her naginata sensei but failed every time as she dodged the hits swiftly. Swirling his naginata, Hikaru hit Yasumi in the stomach and the back.

Falling to the ground, while eating up some dirt, Yasumi coughed. She got up again and decided to do something that she just had thought up. When Hikaru went into the attack, she charged at him with equal speed and brought up her naginata. She then used it to pole vault over the man and brought it with her. She lightly tabbed him in the head with the back end of the naginata and landed on her feet, smirking.

Hikaru was god smacked. She had managed to hit him on the first day, an amazing feat. "Wow kid, you are good at this. As promised here is your first real naginata. Use it well." He threw over a naginata at Yasumi

Yasumi smiled at the praise and caught the weapon. She noticed that the pole was red with a spiked tip at the end. The blade was long and sharp, forming an arc of sorts. The color of the blade was a shiny silver color. She attached the naginata to her back for easy drawing.

She left the naginata master and went to find her sensei. She found him waiting for her at training area 8.

"Welcome back Yasumi. It is time to learn a few water jutsus. Now watch me do the hand seals and perform it. Do note that you need a water source to use most of this jutsus, unless you get really good at them," said Genma-sensei.

Genma walked over to the pond and performed the hand seals slowly so that Yasumi could see them. He then called out, "Suiton: Kaihodan (Water Style: Pressure Cannon)." This caused a strong jet stream of water is blasted out of Genma's mouth. Both Genma and Yasumi watched the blast hit a tree and tore it to tiny pieces.

"This jutsu is fairly powerful and it can be performed without a water source around, give it a shot," said Genma-sensei. Yasumi nodded and did the hand seals that she noticed him do. She then called out, "Suiton: Kaihodan!" A smaller jet stream of water burst from her mouth and hit the tree se was aiming at. It only blasted a medium sized hole in the tree.

Yasumi frowned a little but quickly turned into a smile when she heard her sensei say, "Good job Yasumi that was a nice shot for a first try." "Now watch me do this other water jutsu that requires no water source. This just takes the water molecules in the air and converts them to water."

Yasumi watched him do hand seals and heard him call out, "Suiton: Suijinheki! (Water Element: Water Barrier Wall)" She watched as water materialized out of no where and created a shield around her sensei. She threw some kunai at it and watch the shield block and actually deflect the kunai.

Genma dispelled the jutsu and said, "Now you try it." Yasumi nodded and did the hand seals she saw her sensei use. She then cried out, "Suiton: Suijinheki!" The same thing happened as with Genma-sensei and watched as a water barrier surrounded her. Genma threw a few shuriken and watch the water block them, although feebly.

"Good job Yasumi, we will work on the strength of it tomorrow. Be ready for the team meeting tomorrow, dismissed!"

Yasumi jumped up in joy at learning new jutsus and receiving a weapon like Naruto-kun. _'Why did I just call him Naruto-kun! I do NOT like him!' _She slightly blushed as she walked away.

* * *

The next day, the three genins met in training area 8. All three were awaiting their sensei to arrive so they struck up some conversation. 

"So…" said Yasumi quietly, looking at her two teammates, "Do you two have any family?" Naruto slightly cringed at the question and gave her a glare while giving off some killer intent. Yasumi immediately knew that she had asked the wrong question, judging from the amount of fear she was feeling.

Gaara seemed to ignore his friend's slight killer intent and answered the question, "My mother died giving birth to me. My father is the Kazekage as you may know. I have tow siblings named Temari and Kankuro who are both chuunins."

Yasumi was startled out of the fear she was getting and looked at Gaara with a hint of surprise. "You are the Kazekage's son? No wonder you are so powerful and rookie of the year. I am the exact opposite. I come from poverty and mother is home sick with a disease that I have no money to get the cure for."

Gaara just looked at her, showing no emotion but Naruto had calmed down after hearing that explanation. He looked towards the ground, hesitantly answering her question, "I am originally from Konohagakure. I left at age 6 because the villagers hate me like they fear Gaara here. I was an orphan, as both of my parents are dead. I have no clue who in the hell my parents are!" Naruto walked away after saying that. He headed for a tree to be away from people. The thought of wondering who his parents were, struck a chord with him.

Yasumi looked shocked at his reaction and was about to chase after him when she felt that she couldn't move. Gaara was equally shocked as well. Six years as friends and he never knew that about his friend, but he knew he needed to grieve. Gaara summoned sand to attach to Yasumi's legs when he noticed she was about to run away.

She looked down at her legs and noticed that there was sand covering them. She looked over at Gaara. He simply shook his head, signifying no. He also added on in words, "Naruto rarely cries. I have never known of this either and we have been friends for a while. Give him some time; he'll be back to his own self." Yasumi nodded but still planned to help him.

Naruto had walked behind a tree with a few tears coming down his cheeks. He sat behind the tree, relishing in the shade. He looked up at the sky and spoke to himself, "Who are my parents? Are they really dead? Do they hate me? I want to know."

'**_Kit' _**No reaction came from the boy who kept getting lost in his own pondering. **_'Kit!' _**The Kyuubi was annoyed that there was still no response. **_'GOD DAMN IT KIT, STOP CRYING!' _**This caused for Naruto to jump in surprise at such a loud voice. He looked around for a second, but realized it was only Kyuubi.

'_Kyuubi, do you know who my parents are?' **'Kit, I am an unholy demon. How in the flying heavens would I know who your parents are? I don't know!' **_Naruto looked a little bit depressed but was quickly shaken out of his mini depression when he was tackled to the ground be a big ball of purple.

'_Wait a second a big ball of purple?' _He looked at the thing that tackled him and realized that the thing was Yasumi, she was crying and saying, "I'm sorry, so sorry for asking that. Please forgive me. I hope you find out who they are. Please… Please forgive…" Naruto cut her off and said, "Its okay Yasumi, I just got a little upset because I haven't really thought about it in a long time, its okay. I forgive you."

Yasumi stopped sobbing while sniffling a little and said, "Promise? Promise you won't get angry again?" Naruto looked sullen and said, "I promise that I will not get angry at you anymore Yasumi-chan."

Yasumi looked shocked that he called her Yasumi-chan. _'Does he like me? Do I like him? I… don't know.' _

Naruto on the other hand noticed his slip and blushed, with the Kyuubi cackling like a maniac in his mind. When Yasumi noticed Naruto blush, she blushed as well.

Genma was running a bit late. He teleported to the training area and saw that Gaara practicing with his sand. Genma yelled, "Hey Gaara!" Gaara looked over at his sensei. "Where are the other two?" Gaara merely pointed towards the trees.

Genma-sensei nodded and jumped towards the trees. He decided to sneak up on them and walked in on Naruto and Yasumi, together, in each others arms blushing. He decided to be a bit evil and say, "Well well well, what do we have here? A couple of love birds eh?"

Both Yasumi and Naruto looked over at Genma, quickly jumped apart and turned completely red. Genma just laughed at their embarrassment, but stopped when Naruto and Yasumi directed a lot of killing intent at him.

Genma coughed slightly, hopping to get out of this unscathed. He quickly brought up something they both wanted to hear. "Good news kids, I got our first D ranked mission. Ready to have fun?" Both kids were oblivious to their sensei's slightly sadistic grin.

"YAY. About damn time sensei, what is the mission?" asked Yasumi. Naruto just gave his sensei the thumbs up and give him an animalistic grin.

"Well come on, I will show you what the mission is. Follow me." Gaara, who had shown up not 20 seconds after Genma arrived, followed his sensei while Naruto and Yasumi trailed behind.

* * *

Genma was reading a book and was watching his students do the D rank mission. Mostly they were complaining though. "God damn it sensei, this sucks. I don't want to weed this old mans garden! Why are you reading? You should help!" complained Naruto. Naruto looked at the book he was holding and said, "That better not be Icha Icha Paradise. I hate perverts." 

Genma just chuckled to him self as Naruto complained about the D ranked mission. "Isn't this fun?" All three genin sweat dropped and yelled at him, "NO!" Genma just continued to chuckle. "Eh, Naruto it is not that book, I'm no pervert I promise!" Naruto just looked at him as if he was a liar.

Around half way through the mission, Naruto got an idea. Naruto did some hand seals and said, "Kaze Bunshin no Jutsu." A single wind clone appeared next to Naruto and he ordered it to do the mission for him. Both Yasumi and Gaara saw what Naruto had done and both of them called out, "Suna Bunshin no Jutsu." They sent their sand clones to work and joined Genma at leaning against the fence.

Genma looked away from his book and noticed his genin leaning on the fence. "Why aren't you guys working?" The three of them just lazily pointed at the garden. Genma looked over and noticed 3 clones working the garden. Genma just sighed and let out a simple, "oh."

He left his own bunshin there to act like they were there. He told his team-mates to follow him back to the training field to get another D mission.

* * *

This continued for around two weeks. They would get D ranked missions and just leave Bunshins there to work for them. They took that time to train and learn new jutsus as well as brush up on fighting style. 

The civilians could see Team 8 walking to the Kazekage tower. They walked inside and met with the Kazekage to receive a mission.

Before Genma could speak Naruto spoke first and said, "Kazekage! Give us a C ranked mission, I think we are ready!" Genma just sighed and looked at his other two students. They were both nodding their heads.

Kazekage just chuckled threw them a mission from the C pile. "Sure kids, your first C ranked mission is to wipe out a group of samurai terrorizing a small village north of here, near the forest between Wind and Rock country."

Naruto gave the Kazekage a victory sign and jumped in the air. Yasumi screamed out, "Kick Ass!" and Gaara simply said, "thank you father." The Kazekage smiled and dismissed the team.

Once outside Genma told his students, "Go pack up and be at the northern gate in a half hour. Dismissed!" He watched as his students jumped away at fairly fast speeds.

* * *

"Alright you are all here. That is good. We will be there in less than a day," said Genma. All three genin listened to him intently. "Alrighty kids, follow me!" The gate opened and the burst along with their sensei heading towards the jungle. 

During the travel, Naruto and Kyuubi took up a conversation. _'Hey Kyuubi, can I use the fighting style I know that's from you? I'd love to use those jutsus.' **'No brat. Save it as a trump card. You may need them against a powerful opponent.' **'You're no fun! I wanna have fun damn it. Bah. Anyways, can you teach me a jutsu? Please? **'No.' **'Pretty Please?' **'No!' **'Pretty please with sugar on top?' **'I SAID NO KIT! SHUT UP!' **_Naruto silently laughed to himself at successfully pissing off the Kyuubi.

Naruto turned to his other teammates and watched them speak. It was rather one sided although.

"Hey Gaara, you think this mission is going to be fun?" asked Yasumi. Gaara just simply looked at her as if she asked a stupid question. "Well? asked Yasumi. Gaara mumbled out, "Yea sure, it will be… exciting." Yasumi seemed satisfied with his answer and asked a question, "Gaara, why are you so quiet? Are you gay?" she asked.

Gaara just stared at disbelief that she asked that question. _'Of course I am not gay, hell I think Yasumi is cute. Wait a second. Did I just think that? Argh!' **'Haha! Panda Boy has a crush! I thought I'd never see the day. Maybe she would like sand castles?' **_Gaara just ignored the Shukaku and answered her question with a small blush, "No, I am not gay. I like girls." Yasumi nodded, but then asked, "Still, why are you so quiet?"

Gaara just plainly said, "I will tell you someday in the future." Yasumi twitched her eyebrow and went to talk with Naruto.

After around five hours of travel, they had made it to the town that was being terrorized by the samurai. The town mayor eyed the ninja and spoke, "Just north of here, before the forest, you will find them. I wish you all good luck."

The ninja nodded and headed towards the area that he had pointed to. It was dusk and nearly night time. Just before the camp, they decided to go with stealth.

Creeping close, they noticed around a dozen samurai sitting around the campfire chatting and eating. Genma looked at his teammates and said, "Any plans?"

Gaara eyed him and said, "Only Yasumi and Naruto have the fighting styles for stealth kills. I am a more defensive and upfront battler. I may be stealthy when it comes to hiding but my jutsus are certainly a bit flashy. Send them in with their weapons." Genma nodded and said, "Alright Naruto, Yasumi. I want you guys to go in there and kill all of the samurai." Genma then noticed Yasumi shuddering and added on, "Yes I said kill Yasumi." "Gaara, I want you to go back and set up camp, got it?"

Naruto nodded and prepared for the assault, Yasumi was a bit shaken about having to kill them but kept reassuring herself that it was part of the job. Naruto looked over at the girl and said, "I will get the left side, you will take the right. Ready?" Yasumi nodded and drew her naginata. Naruto eyed her and said, "On the count of three. One." Yasumi gulped and tightened her grip on the weapon.

"Two." Yasumi got ready to go as fast as she could. "Three." Yasumi rushed over at the samurai and blazing speed at the same time as Naruto. She took her naginata and quickly slashed right through the heads of the samurai. Each samurai had a surprised look as they got beheaded. What Yasumi did not notice was that she only killed five samurai and not six.

Naruto dashed forward and whispered out one of his special sword jutsus, "Hitofuki Boufuu (Gust Storm)." Instantly swords made of wind had formed around his own sword as he cut through each victim.

What this did was it created a sword of wind to be left behind in the victim as Naruto charged through them like butter. He would not even have to cut the victim him self as the wind blade would follow behind him and strike the target he had whizzed by. Each samurai got up and drew their swords, only to gag for breath as blood spewed out of their mouth and dropped dead lifeless, with windy swords in their guts.

Naruto was pleased with his work and looked over at Yasumi. She was sobbing to herself about killing people. He walked over and gave her a hug. "Shhh, it is okay. Killing is bound to happen. It is part of a shinobi's job. Don't lose your self to pleasure of killing." Naruto soothed to her. "Remember to never enjoy killing? Okay?" asked Naruto. Yasumi kept crying and embraced Naruto's hold.

This heart warming scene was interrupted with a sharp piercing scream. Both ninja looked over at the source and gasped at what they saw.

Their sensei was being held captive and they watched as he was knocked out by a ninja. Naruto charged forward with his sword but was easily knocked back by the ninja.

"Pathetic genin. You killed my minions. All 11 of them! I was the one that stupid girl missed. My name is Ishurso Akito. I am an A class missing-nin from Iwagakure," Akito bragged as if he were the most feared man in the world. Naruto had gotten up by now and glared at this rock-nin while Yasumi was scared in shock at such a high ranking missing-nin here.

This rock-nin had a large body. His brown hair was dwarfed by the sheer sized of his body. He was easily six and a half feet tall. The rock-nin wielded a very huge axe that was twice the size of Naruto.

"I hope you guys love knowing that you led to the downfall of your precious sensei. Hahaha," crackled Akito as he vanished from view.

Naruto kicked the ground and looked over at Yasumi. "We should get Gaara and go searching for him," replied Naruto. Naruto thought for a moment and added, "He's probably going to head north into rock country, maybe a cave near by. Follow me," said Naruto.

Yasumi followed him and looked at the sky and noticed a shooting star in the black sky. She wished to herself, "I hope you are alright sensei."

* * *

**A/N: **Well that is the end of Chapter 4. It is shorter than chapter 3 but I felt that it needed to end there. I hope you liked the small cliffhanger I left behind. The pairing that is in the summery is the correct/final pairing. If you have any questions or comments please use the private message to get in contact with me. Read and Review as well, I like to hear your opinion on the story. Example: was it good or bad? Please tell me how I am doing with keeping Naruto and the others in character, well in character relative to my story. 

Until the next chapter, ja ne!

* * *

Naruto knows these Jutsus:

**The 3 Academy Jutsus**

**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu**

**Ninpou: Kajou Chouin (Item Sealing)**

**Katon: Housenka no Jutsu**

**Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu**

**Fuuton: Hitofuki Tama (Gust Bullet)**

**8 Unknown Jutsus, yet to be revealed **

**Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu**

**Hitofuki Ashari (Gust Storm)**

**Kaze Bunshin no Jutsu (Wind Clone)**

* * *

Gaara knows these Jutsus:

**The 3 Academy Jutsu**

**Suna no Yoroi**

**Sabaku SouSou**

**Suna no Tate**

**Suna Shuriken**

**Suna Bunshin no Jutsu**

**Suna Shigure (Sand Drizzle)**

**Ryusa Bakuryu (Quicksand in the Style of a Waterfall).**

* * *

Yasumi knows these jutsus:

**The 3 Academy Jutsu**

**Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Element: Water Barrier)**

**Suiton: Kaihodan (Water Element: Pressure Cannon)**

**Suna Bunshin no Jutsu**

**5 Unknown Jutsus, yet to be revealed**


End file.
